dialog
listlengths
4
30
title
stringlengths
15
150
category
stringclasses
14 values
dialog_time
stringdate
2016-01-21 01:59:30
2018-07-01 01:34:46
[ { "message": "Sorry if this is off topic, but this seemed to be the best site to ask.I can think of several examples of the use of a narrative technique: a last-second change in mood, often occurring so close to the end of the work that the audience cannot respond to it, potentially forcing them to reinterpret ...
Is there a word for the narrative technique of a last-second change in mood?
english
2016-11-14T20:41:34.837
[ { "message": "What do we call somebody who asks only puzzles? Similar to this <a href=\"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12999/what-do-you-call-somebody-who-asks-a-question-and-somebody-who-answers-a-questio\">Post tells us the term somebody asks questions.", "role": "user" }, { "message"...
What do we call somebody who asks only puzzles
english
2016-11-15T04:55:57.343
[ { "message": "We working in a company where we have a situation wherein numbers of some of the department's pretty inept and incompetent managements are unscrupulously awarding their subordinates (mostly out of nepotism, cronyism or flat out ethnic favoritism) therefore a similar officer in our front line depar...
A phenomenon where job titles are indiscriminately given
english
2016-11-15T12:03:56.000
[ { "message": "AI is everywhere now, changing our lives for the better or the worse.But, is there someone here who can tell me what the collective noun for Artificial Intelligence is?Or do we have to wait for an AI to come up with one...?Example:<blockquote> The ______________ (colony?) of AI's collaborated to ...
What is the collective noun for "Artificial Intelligence"
english
2016-11-15T16:37:26.767
[ { "message": "Which is correct:<blockquote> Scarcely did she put down the phone when it rang again. Scarcely had she put down the phone when it rang again. </blockquote>My own take is that both are correct, but that \"had she\" indicates a connection between the phone ringing and the fact that it was put ...
"Scarcely did/had she put down the phone when it rang again"
english
2016-11-16T11:41:28.340
[ { "message": "Sample sentence - A cave was _________ into the cliff.I'm trying to say that the cave was built naturally without any human intervention in any way.The alternatives I can think/search of - carved, cut, built, slice but all of do carry a connotation of having human involvement.Feel free to modify t...
Natural alternative for built
english
2016-11-16T18:18:47.707
[ { "message": "Scientists predict that Language X will compete with English in global usage.Another expression or word instead of \"compete with\" in this context?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "How about <a href=\"http://www.dictionary.com/browse/vie\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">vie?<blockquote>...
Another word for "Compete with" in the context of Languages
english
2016-11-17T00:12:34.453
[ { "message": "So, we're having an event and have been tasked with creating a booklet (2/3 page PDF) to show categories, nominees and winnersBetween us, we're sure there's one word that encapsulates this type of document.<code>Overview</code> suggests something before. <code>Reflection</code> doesn't fit right.<...
Word for a document to reflect upon an event
english
2016-11-17T10:48:16.033
[ { "message": "When it comes to tell what is the next move or states of someone, which one of these two words are more appropriate? A couple of examples :You go for a job interview and you don't get a good feedback, which sentence in your opinion is more proper :I don't expect them to call me I predict that the...
Using "expecting" vs "predicting"
english
2016-11-18T16:38:26.507
[ { "message": "I can only think of <code>yourselves</code> as a single word that is related to (only) you-plural and isn't a verb. The other one I can think of is <code>y'all</code> but that's more of a contraction.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "You, your, yours, and yourselves can all be <a href...
Are there any non-contraction you-plural words in English besides 'yourselves'?
english
2016-11-18T20:55:44.043
[ { "message": "What do you call the statement someone, or some organization/entity/group, makes when surrending - and when the surrender and/or the statement and/or the circumstances of making the statement are particularly humiliating?Usage example: That's a bit tricky, since use may differ based on the propose...
A derogatory term for "a humiliating statement of surrender"
english
2016-11-18T22:23:55.940
[ { "message": "What do you call the statement someone, or some organization/entity/group, makes when surrending - and when the surrender and/or the statement and/or the circumstances of making the statement are particularly humiliating?Usage example: That's a bit tricky, since use may differ based on the propose...
A derogatory term for "a humiliating statement of surrender"
english
2016-11-18T22:23:55.940
[ { "message": "What was the first swearword that got referred to as a \"[letter]-bomb\"?Google NGrams indicates that \"n-bomb\" became pretty common in the 1960s, but that could be referring to nuclear bombs, as opposed to \"nigger\".Onelook <a href=\"http://www.onelook.com/?w=-bomb&amp;ls=a\" rel=\"noreferrer\"...
What was the first swearword that got a [letter]-bomb?
english
2016-11-19T12:15:28.080
[ { "message": "What do you call an object that compares between two or more items?Context:<br>I'm developing a program that will compare the market performance of two products in terms of sales, revenue, profit etc.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "How about comparator? M-W:<blockquote> <a href=\"h...
What do you call an object that "compares"?
english
2016-11-20T01:36:21.063
[ { "message": "I'm searching for a term describing the possibility of an entity to be seen many different things at the same time. The general concept of being able to categorize an entity into several context-dependent abstractions.A car is not only a car, but can be:A vehicleA toyA riskA pollutantA Faraday's c...
Word for the possibility of being many things at once
english
2016-11-20T12:11:11.593
[ { "message": "Are two prepositions allowed along with one another in the English language?For example: <blockquote> An opportunity will happen on through any doors </blockquote>", "role": "user" }, { "message": "There are some cases, but they are mostly idioms or set phrases.The most obvious I can ...
Are two prepositions allowed along with one another in the English language?
english
2016-11-20T15:23:29.627
[ { "message": "Recently, for a scientific publication, I wrote something like the following:<blockquote> The sample consisted of all students at the age of 13 years or older.</blockquote>However, I received this back from the language check changed into the following:<blockquote> The sample consisted of all st...
What is the correct use of "at the age of" or similar for describing a group of people?
english
2016-11-21T13:18:24.910
[ { "message": "My partner is writing a reflective essay that outlines an incident where she had questioned something that someone was doing and they disagreed, and because they were more senior than her, she assumed that they knew what they were talking about, so didn't push further.Is there a word that or short...
Is there a word or short phrase to indicate the assumption that someone in a position of authority is correct?
english
2016-11-21T21:04:15.673
[ { "message": "I am writing an academic text, that deals with American politics. If I write about party members in congress, should I write about Democrats, Republicans and Independents or about republicans, democrats and independents? (Those independents here, are not members of an \"IndependentParty\")", "...
Should I start democrats and republicans with capital letter or not?
english
2016-11-22T14:14:18.830
[ { "message": "Prepositional phrase?I resolved not to allow frivolous preoccupations to deflect me. (I cause, not to receive frivolous preoccupations to deflect me)It had, after all, brought home to me (the whole incident has brought home to me)For Miss Hemmings was looking up at me with a cold searching gaze.(A...
Is it a prepositional or a ditransitive phrase?
english
2016-11-23T16:02:45.550
[ { "message": "I'm fiddling around with a piece of prose that my other half once wrote, trying to get it translated to English.The text is basically an inner monologue. After a burst of (verbal) aggressiveness, the \"inner\" speaker gradually gets hold of himself/herself, and despite the fairly reasonable conten...
Contemporary equivalent of the word "moxie" as defined herein
english
2016-11-24T00:55:30.820
[ { "message": "I'm looking for a term (or terms) to describe a person who leaves a group (or organisation), and then later re-joins.Something like a \"re-joiner\" perhaps?For example, a \"leaver\" is someone who leaves or has left, and an \"onboarder\" or \"inductee\" may describe a new-starter. My language is ...
The term for a person who "re-joins" an organisation
english
2016-11-24T16:06:16.147
[ { "message": "The word isn't occupation by the way, however, it is subsumed under the meaning of the word that I am looking for.I'll give a few examples in order to elucidate the meaning:<blockquote> 'The gentleman reserved her ______' 'By having his uncle murdered, he could take up the long awaited ____ as...
What is a word to describe the place or role which someone takes?
english
2016-11-25T14:52:36.630
[ { "message": "In Portuguese we have an expression called \"vista grossa\" which means to overlook some wrongdoing on purpose.This is used mostly when something is borderline wrong/illegal or possibly wrong under some rigid laws and the person enforcing the situation pretends to not notice the issue to avoid con...
Is there a phrase for the action of overlooking on purpose something
english
2016-11-28T19:57:13.137
[ { "message": "Is there a proverb that advises not to panic in bad times and not be overjoyed in the good times? I mean to be patient in both the good and the bad times.Or, in other words ● Don't be overly delighted in happiness and don't panic in sorrow. Keep balance/be patient in both.● Life has its ups and ...
Not panicking and not overjoyous
english
2016-12-03T06:49:01.883
[ { "message": "So I was reading this scientific article and stumbled upon the following phrase: <blockquote> \"winL is a subset of partL also containing objects within epsilon of r.\"</blockquote>It's refering to distances as shown in the picture below (the gray part is winL, which contains the objects positio...
What meaning does "within" have in this case?
english
2016-12-03T17:18:25.620
[ { "message": "I am reading an article that is new, but it's citing completely outdated sources of information. Granted, without knowledge in the field, it would be hard to detect these inaccuracies.I want to say, \"This article is outdated,\" but that could be misconstrued to mean it's an old article with old i...
What is a word or phrase to describe a new article that's using outdated sources?
english
2016-12-05T17:05:09.980
[ { "message": "Translating \"Head &amp; Shoulders\" (the shampoo brand) in my mother tongue (Bulgarian) it sounds really dumb.But is it sounds dumb for native english language speakers as well? Or it sounds some kind of more reasonable?<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ujCnl.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">"...
How "head & shoulders" sounds for native english speakers?
english
2016-12-05T19:51:14.203
[ { "message": "An Albanian friend of mine asked me a bit of a puzzler: What would be the English equivalent of the Albanian idiom \"Let my cow die should my neighbor's two cows die\"?Figuratively translated, it means that what is bad for you must be good for me.I haven't been able to find any idiomatic expressio...
Idiomatic Expression that basically says "What's bad for you is good for me"
english
2016-12-05T21:10:05.187
[ { "message": "Both <code>CET</code> and eg. <code>Europe/Oslo</code> is called a <code>Timezone</code>. But the city of Oslo is experiencing <code>CEST</code> in the summer-time (as many others).What is the correct way to refeer to the timezone identifier that <code>Europe/Oslo</code> is?Will this be a good wor...
CET vs Europe/Oslo timezone naming
english
2016-12-07T20:53:40.083
[ { "message": "Living in the Pacific Northwest, a person I'm close to frequently uses this word instead of the more common \"yep\" or \"yeah\". As I haven't heard it regularly from others and she has Southern American roots, I wondered what the source of this word is and what geographic regions it's most common....
What is the history and regional dispersion of the affirmative "yup"?
english
2016-12-09T21:00:10.657
[ { "message": "I am trying to find a right word for a person that believes that he/she always acts with pure morals. Someone who in a way believes and acts like Jesus. Especially in terms of pure heart or pure morals.If you have seen the movie <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rPllm4WEXw\" rel=\"nofollo...
What do you call someone who believes that their morals are pure?
english
2016-12-12T04:33:46.813
[ { "message": "While someone is making an artwork, he is expressing his thoughts in a form that it is understandable by others. What is a verb or phrasal verb for this practice?Is \"actualizing his thoughts\" correct?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "In your context, one is manifesting/demonstrating...
Whats a verb for "making one's thoughts and ideas happen"?
english
2016-12-12T05:17:46.500
[ { "message": "<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Boycotting is a classic consumer strategy to, in a sense, vote with your feet or with your dollar against some business that is doing something you find troubling, whether integral to the business, like slaughtering practices for...
What is a good alternative for the reverse of a boycott?
english
2016-12-12T15:28:50.977
[ { "message": "Like when people who receive free government aid, and complain about regulations on it. Not what the person would be called, but what it is called that they're doing.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "<a href=\"http://www.dictionary.com/browse/don-t-look-a-gift-horse-in-the-mouth\" rel...
What would you call it when somebody complains about something that is given to them?
english
2016-12-13T00:07:18.693
[ { "message": "In other words, what's the word for not wanting to repeat a word? I find attempts to avoid repeating a word are generally ham-fisted and unnatural. I know there is a word for the act of not repeating a word, but I can't remember what it is.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "The word yo...
What's the word for not wanting to repeat a semantic atom?
english
2016-12-13T13:49:32.230
[ { "message": "I'm writing a letter to a professor. It is my intention to state the purpose of the letter in the prescript, such as:<blockquote> This is about project FOO you assigned on date BAR.</blockquote>But I think this would seem unprofessional. What would be a more proper way to state 'this letter is ab...
Professional way to state the purpose of a letter
english
2016-12-13T18:46:19.103
[ { "message": "Suppose I have, for example, two sets. Set A has 20 elements and set B has 5 elements. I could say that B is 25 percent the size of A. I'd like a word that would let me succinctly make it clear that a number is a proportion or ratio, but without the need to scale it by 100. So in the previous ...
Trying to find a word that is similar to "percent", but for direct ratios
english
2016-12-14T02:38:58.590
[ { "message": "For example; Billy holds a grudge against Sally for something the happened. Is there a concise way to describe the situation from Sally's perspective?EDIT: I'm looking for Sally as the subject, not the object. Also, kind of an employer/employee relationship (grudge-holder vs. grudge-receiver, but ...
Is there a word for being on the receiving end of a grudge?
english
2016-12-16T19:46:27.793
[ { "message": "<blockquote> I find people are limited in growth in technology due to them not expanding their skill despite it not being difficult so they end up being held back despite the demand in business and in job marking being in new technology. Technology constantly changes and being valued at corpor...
Involuntary initial struggle of doing something different
english
2016-12-18T15:07:49.817
[ { "message": "I heard it done on purpose in different songs; like here<a href=\"http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/mark+knopfler/news_20089384.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/mark+knopfler/news_20089384.html<blockquote> He's burning the grass<br> He take up a glass<br> He swallow it...
Why would singers omit 's' from "He takes/makes/etc" in song lyrics?
english
2016-12-19T10:08:55.047
[ { "message": "When should we write the word \"church\" with a capital C, Church, and when should we only write it as church?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "Sorry to leave this as an answer, but my rep isn't high enough yet to comment.Piggybacking off of @sumelic's comment in the original post, I ...
When should we write the word "church" with a capital C?
english
2016-12-20T07:38:14.487
[ { "message": "When should and shouldn't I use the before the words present, past and future?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "This might be something subtle which some dictionaries will do a better job of explaining than others. However, the brute-force answer to the subtlety is that an article (wh...
When should and shouldn't I use "the" before the words "present", "past" and "future"?
english
2016-12-20T09:42:25.497
[ { "message": "What's the difference between \"boast of\" and \" boast about\" ?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "For the most part, the two prepositions can be used interchangeably. According to <a href=\"http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/boast+about\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">The Free Dictona...
What's the difference between "boast of" and " boast about"?
english
2016-12-20T11:42:27.683
[ { "message": "It's that time of year, you're surrounded by sick people. Parents tell you their child hasn't been able to shake off that nasty flu for over a week. A colleague comes to work looking worse for wear, she doesn't take off her scarf or her gloves all day, and you can tell she is shivering. And this m...
An idiom or phrase for when you're about to be ill
english
2016-12-20T12:08:27.563
[ { "message": "I have a phrase \"X and Y are systems that are dependent on each other and affect each other\".I want to rephrase this to \"X and Y are interdependent and ???? systems\"Is there a suitable adjective? perhaps \"mutually ???\"", "role": "user" }, { "message": "Corresponsive is a possibil...
Is there an adjective that means "affect each other"?
english
2016-12-21T13:42:53.013
[ { "message": "In legal citations, why do people put \"see\", \"see also\", \"e.g.\", etc., in italics?Please don't just say, \"because that's the custom.\" I'd like to know just enough about the evolution of this custom to develop some intuition regarding when one should italicize the little introductory words...
In legal citations, why are "see", "see also", etc., in italics?
english
2016-12-24T18:38:48.047
[ { "message": "What is the uncollective noun for proration, which can be used with 's'?<pre><code>people; collective nounperson; uncollective noun</code></pre>The proration above can be used in such a context.Ex. Changing a subscription often results in a proration: a charge adjustment. So you can prepare your c...
Uncollective noun for Proration
english
2016-12-26T00:42:06.523
[ { "message": "Did the phrase \"final solution\" for a form of genocide first appear with the Canadians, or with the Nazis / Holocaust?The <a href=\"http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FinalSolution\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">TVTropes \"Final Solution\" page explains the origins of the term:<blockquote...
Did the phrase "final solution" for a form of genocide first appear with the Canadians?
english
2016-12-26T04:11:28.817
[ { "message": "I am searching for a good english word that would be an analogy for russian word izuminka, direct translation is raisin, but it is used in figurative sense.<br>Other synonyms I've found: appeal, picanthy, zest. Most close meaning would be an interesting feature.<br>So it is something that makes t...
A word for "interesting feature"
english
2016-12-26T15:49:27.603
[ { "message": "Here's my specific example:<blockquote> Puffing, Ralphie rested her elbows on the guardrail. Body Woman was now talking to a bald super spy. </blockquote>(For context, Ralphie is on a balcony looking at Body Woman and the super spy.)Is this grammatically correct for what is supposed to be a third...
Is it grammatically correct to use 'now' third person past tense narration?
english
2016-12-26T20:34:34.470
[ { "message": "The list of words in the OS X /usr/share/dict/words file includes the surprising word \"antiturnpikeism\". (It seems it's not OS X-specific. It's also in the <a href=\"https://packages.debian.org/jessie/wamerican\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">wamerican package.) I can't seem to find reference to t...
Is "antiturnpikeism" a real word, or a copyright trap?
english
2016-12-27T07:45:45.323
[ { "message": "The list of words in the OS X /usr/share/dict/words file includes the surprising word \"antiturnpikeism\". (It seems it's not OS X-specific. It's also in the <a href=\"https://packages.debian.org/jessie/wamerican\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">wamerican package.) I can't seem to find reference to t...
Is "antiturnpikeism" a real word, or a copyright trap?
english
2016-12-27T07:45:45.323
[ { "message": "I'm trying to recall a word I've used before and I'm coming up blank. Here is the context: in computer programming, we often have new languages with multiple ways to accomplish the same end result. After a language is used for a while, people generally start to agree on the most \"accepted\" or co...
Term for common or accepted usage of how a language is used
english
2016-12-29T16:06:29.910
[ { "message": "I'm looking for a word similar to saying, \"It could be black or grey or green, regardless of colour it still holds .....\"I want to say<blockquote> It could be finite or infinite, regardless of &lt;the word I'm looking for&gt; it still holds....</blockquote>If you need more clarity I'll reply w...
Word that expresses the state of being finite or infinite without specifying which one it is
english
2016-12-30T01:41:27.547
[ { "message": "I just posted a <a href=\"https://mythology.stackexchange.com/q/2222/967\">question over in the Mythology SE and used this sentence:<blockquote> I'm tagging Greek and Roman mythology, but open to other mythologies as well.</blockquote>I wanted to say:<blockquote> I'm tagging Greek and Roman myth...
Fill in the blank: "____ of mythology"
english
2017-01-02T04:29:07.210
[ { "message": "I just posted a <a href=\"https://mythology.stackexchange.com/q/2222/967\">question over in the Mythology SE and used this sentence:<blockquote> I'm tagging Greek and Roman mythology, but open to other mythologies as well.</blockquote>I wanted to say:<blockquote> I'm tagging Greek and Roman myth...
Fill in the blank: "____ of mythology"
english
2017-01-02T04:29:07.210
[ { "message": "Consider a situation which you trust your friend for 35th times although he failed in previous 34 time!You are saying to your self I'm such a fool that do this again.What's the phrase for describing this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "message": "The quote \"The definition of insanit...
Phrase for trusting someone untrustworthy again?
english
2017-01-02T17:20:13.540
[ { "message": "In Dutch we can say 'ik gun jou de opdracht', meaning 'I ... you the assignment'. It's mixture of allow to have and don't begrudge I guess. If I translate the dictionary, it would be 'to desire or approve that somebody else has or gets something'.A related word would be 'gunfactor', used in busine...
Translation for Dutch word 'gunnen'
english
2017-01-04T19:31:05.143
[ { "message": "I came across the following question in a textbook. All are about the idiom using 'set', and the answer was found to be \"set out\". I looked each over in the dictionary and I found 'set out', 'set in' and 'set off' all have the meaning 'to start'. Why is only 'set out' correct in this case? <blo...
What is the appropriate usage of the idiom using 'set ..'?
english
2017-01-05T07:28:08.403
[ { "message": "An antecedent refers to an earlier noun to derive its meaning, for example,<blockquote> Taylor likes his pizza hot.</blockquote>Here, his derives its meaning from Taylor. What is the anaphora or inverse of the antecedent? (I am looking for a grammatical category paired with antecedent). It might ...
Inverse of an antecedent
english
2017-01-06T01:28:07.270
[ { "message": "The German term \"Datenbasis\" (un- or processed data resource) could be simply translated into database, as Langenscheidt shows <a href=\"http://de.langenscheidt.com/deutsch-englisch/datenbasis?term=Datenbasis&amp;q_cat=%2Fdeutsch-englisch%2F\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Link to Langenscheidt's ...
What do you call a non-technical database
english
2017-01-06T13:49:19.387
[ { "message": "Someone is very upset and making a scene. You have no sympathy. You think the whole situation is very entertaining. The sense of schadenfreude and shock at the improper outburst is strong enough that you can't help but make a face, but you are able to remain silent and you do so in order to remain...
Word for silent expression of tickled shock at someone else's outburst
english
2017-01-06T18:47:25.620
[ { "message": "For some du words, the Oxford Dictionary of English lists multiple British English pronunciations, i.e.:reduce: [rɪˈdjuːs], [rɪˈdʒuːs]arduous: [ˈɑːdjʊəs], [ˈɑːdʒʊəs]endure: [ɪnˈdjʊə], [ɛnˈdjʊə], [ɪnˈdʒɔː], [ɛnˈdʒɔː]However, for other, similar words, the [dʒ] variant(s) is/are not listed:due: [djuː...
Pronunciation of ⟨du⟩ in ⟨due⟩, ⟨reduce⟩, etc.?
english
2017-01-07T04:38:46.623
[ { "message": "I was wondering what the correct word would be for a sentence that is tightly packed with meaning. For example, a good aphorism. An aphorism is short, but has a lot of meaning behind it and requires considerable thought in order to understand it.I thought of the word dense (as in \"this is a very ...
Word for a short sentence packed with information
english
2017-01-09T17:18:23.433
[ { "message": "The sentence in which it is used begins: - <blockquote> The theatre had been run up in seven months by Mr. Stedman Whitwell, C.E.,</blockquote>and is found <a href=\"http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/collapse-of-brunswick-theatre-february.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here", ...
What does the abbreviation C.E. mean in a piece of text dated 1828?
english
2017-01-10T09:29:19.247
[ { "message": "Can anyone give one word substitution for the moment when you feel happy but deep down you are so scared to express that?A lot of times there comes a moment when something so amazing happens with you and you want to laugh at your fullest but your inner self becomes scared so you either just smiles...
Word for "the moment when you feel happy but deep down you are so scared to express that"?
english
2017-01-11T20:00:43.240
[ { "message": "How to correctly name this in English (in an official documentation for an IT system or in an instruction for filling up some form):<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/pyjM5.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Should I name this:a radio button,a radio-button,a radiobutton,an option button,an option-...
How to correctly name a single-select element in forms?
english
2017-01-13T09:23:25.363
[ { "message": "Good morning, I am writing an essay on file compression and I have written this sentence and I am not sure whether the first or second version would be correct. The statement is: <blockquote> \"Lossless compression is essential as files which require all data to be present, such as a financial re...
Grammar question, which statement would be correct?
english
2017-01-14T11:52:44.227
[ { "message": "I’m looking for a word that means sacrifice something. But I mean to use it in this sentence. I want to replace sacrifice with the word:<blockquote> They packed up everything they had, gave up the option of ever seeing those loved ones staying behind, sacrificed their livelihoods to sail across ...
A word to mean “give something up” (specifically: livelihood)
english
2017-01-15T02:12:12.323
[ { "message": "Among teenagers in the U.S., there is currently popular a colloquial way of wrapping up a story:<blockquote> bla bla, bla bla (various sentences), so yeah.</blockquote>The \"so yeah\" signals that the person is done talking.I need a term or a phrase to describe this, but more succinctly than I ju...
Description for a verbal tic that is vernacular among young people in the U.S
english
2017-01-15T23:39:17.013
[ { "message": "At work the other day, I was making something and wanted a senior person's opinion on my creation for Steve.I said \"Hey Steve, can you take a look at my hat, I'd like your discretion.\"He said I should've said \"...I'd like your opinion.\"Now, because it was Steve's job to make the hat, and I was...
I would like to use your discretion
english
2017-01-16T03:51:37.063
[ { "message": "<blockquote> The text: \"The court determined that Student B exhibited adverse educational impact because notwithstanding her passing grades, during her final year at School #1, her symptoms were sufficiently severe that she was unable to attend public high school at all and required homebound in...
Name for this rhetorical device
english
2017-01-16T19:09:40.683
[ { "message": "I read this sentence in a <a href=\"https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/one-communication-tool-you-should-add-your-toolkit\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Stanford blog, titled \"One Communication Tool You Should Add to Your Toolkit\". What is the meaning of pitch in this context?<blockquote> I o...
Meaning of "pitch" in the context
english
2017-01-18T09:24:39.593
[ { "message": "I am working on a project producing guidance - known as 'the guidance project'.Within that project are individual pieces of work where guidance is produced on different subjects. These are unconnected documents, ie they stand alone and are not chapters or parts of a whole.<br>There is no foreseeab...
Single word for a contributing part of a project
english
2017-01-19T14:28:25.337
[ { "message": "Is \"accumulatory\" a word? I'm intending it to be a word that means the opposite of \"fragmentary\". I thought maybe \"accumulatory\" would be the adjective form of \"accumulate\", but I can't seem to find it in any dictionaries.What is the adjective version of \"accumulate\"? Or, what is a wo...
Is "accumulatory" a word? If not, what is?
english
2017-01-19T23:27:01.193
[ { "message": "I feel rather bad asking this here, as I am fairly certain there is no extant word in the English language to describe this; however, since we borrow words freely from other languages, may I inquire as to possible choices?I have looked on <a href=\"http://thoughtcatalog.com/katie-mather/2015/07/45...
That persistent feeling / memory that stays with one after a profound dream?
english
2017-01-20T11:45:00.497
[ { "message": "What do we call a person, who loves to engage in deep conversations; who is not into silly talks. A person who is attracted to the soul of another person, the depth of his/her character. A person who has so much into his/her mind and thoughts.In simple words, I would say, what do we call a person,...
Word for a person who is attracted to the depth of a character or one who likes deep conversation
english
2017-01-20T12:19:19.757
[ { "message": "What are names for counting measurements for items 1 through 14 that fit in a sentence such as:<blockquote> I want a(n) ____ egg(s).</blockquote>What I think so far:Singular, SolitaryCouple???Half-Dozen?????Dozen??Update:The purpose of this is to describe a base-14 number system in English-ish te...
Formal Names for Groups of 1-14
english
2017-01-20T20:56:41.790
[ { "message": "The context is as follows, \"We are an authoritative source of information dedicated to the needs of events planners in Asia\"Should it be events planners or event planners? Our editor claimed that events planners is correct, although I believe it should be event planners in this context. I am ame...
Which is correct pluralization "event planners" or "events planners"?
english
2017-01-25T07:48:29.953
[ { "message": "I am looking for one word to describe my parent's children, in relation to myself. <code>Siblings</code> does not cut it in my opinion as I am not part of my siblings. In French there is the word <code>fratrie</code> that would qualify, but I could not find any English equivalent.Post-comments edi...
One noun to describe my brothers, sisters and myself
english
2017-01-26T07:53:24.933
[ { "message": "What would be the easiest and shortest way to describe that someone does something without looking at it?If I translate that from my native language into English, I always come up with sentences like:<blockquote> They stand with their backs to each other swing their batons on blind at the approac...
A word or two to describe an action
english
2017-01-29T09:40:58.237
[ { "message": "I am looking for a word that would denote the lack of an idea. For example, I am experiencing a lack of ideas to write an essay about. Or a lack of ideas to make a cartoon about.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "Specific to creative writing, the term is <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia....
One word to describe experiencing a "lack of idea" or lack of subject, lack of topic etc
english
2017-01-29T12:20:12.730
[ { "message": "The first close word I came across was consignment, but on top of apparently meaning exactly what I'm looking for, that word also has its own retail-specific definition; goods for sale, by an agent, on behalf of their owner.The second thing I came across was the phrase bill of goods, but that phra...
A word for purchased merchandise destined for delivery to a customer
english
2017-01-31T01:54:48.920
[ { "message": "Is it conventional to address attorneys general as \"General\", in the second person?In 2012 New Hampshire's attorney general Michael Delaney met with Vermont's attorney general William Sorrell, and an account I read of the meeting said Delaney said \"Good morning, General Sorrell.\" Is that a sta...
Addressing attorneys general
english
2017-01-31T06:14:24.470
[ { "message": "As part of a <a href=\"https://www.propertymetrics.com/blog/2014/01/16/percentage-rent/#\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">percentage rent, I need to pay my landlord 10% of my monthly revenue, but no lower than $10,000.Therefore, I automatically pay $10,000 at the beginning of each month. So let's say...
Word for calculating/adjusting a payment when I previously paid too much?
english
2017-02-01T15:05:10.003
[ { "message": "I am translating a book from Romanian to English. There is a word in the former language that denotes a state of confusion in a human being which could be translated as \"without compass\".Is there any word in English which denotes the same idea and through which I could retain the same mental ima...
Word for a certain metaphor
english
2017-02-03T21:20:22.047
[ { "message": "What's a better way of saying \"removes responsibility\"?<blockquote> Hard determinism's ______ of responsibility is a fundamental problem for society, as our current punishment systems rely upon individuals having moral choice and culpability. This ______ of responsibility carries worrying im...
Removal of responsibility
english
2017-02-05T22:21:16.450
[ { "message": "Well, I don't know how or why, but until a week ago I had never come across the initialism RBF. I read it in a comment that had a very nasty tone, like so many of the comments posted nowadays on social media, so I guessed it had to have a negative slant. <blockquote> <a href=\"https://i.stack.img...
Origin and connotations of RBF (Resting Bitch Face)
english
2017-02-06T00:28:14.890
[ { "message": "Let's say there's an accepted price range for rent. I would like to charge rent fairly, but I'm renting to a very wealthly individual. I don't mind exceeding the accepted range in my asking price, but I don't want to exaggerate and over-exceed.Is this usage correct? In my searched I didn't find th...
Can I say "over-exceed"?
english
2017-02-06T08:30:29.593
[ { "message": "In the Perl programming language, symbols in front of variable names are called <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigil_(computer_programming)\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a sigil. When reading code out loud, the sigil is spoken. <code>$foo</code> becomes dollar foo. The sigil for functions...
Which indefinite article to use if the noun starts with a non-letter character?
english
2017-02-06T08:45:30.827
[ { "message": "How could I translate a sentence like the Italian:<blockquote> Non so cosa ho combinato!</blockquote>?I've translated it into<blockquote> I don't know what I've done!</blockquote>but it seems to me that something's lost in translation.The sentence could have two meanings:Non so cosa ho combinato...
How could I translate the Italian "non so cosa ho combinato"?
english
2017-02-06T13:30:34.010
[ { "message": "Which is the correct spelling: blindman or blind man? Both are frequently used on the web, but blindman is marked as incorrect on the Internet and by Microsoft Word, and it is not found in most dictionaries. Example:<blockquote> There is a blindman/blind man in the street.</blockquote>The Free Di...
Are "blindman" and "blind man" both correct?
english
2017-02-06T19:58:47.670
[ { "message": "I am a novice translator working on a company document. I've always been confused about whether to put in 'the' or not in front of a noun in an English sentence. I know if the noun is a particular one, I should put it in, but sometimes it's confusing to decide whether I should call the noun 'speci...
Put in 'the' or not?
english
2017-02-07T09:46:46.450
[ { "message": "There's a nice cartoon on the web that epitomises what I'm trying to describe:<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ZXDv.gif\">Another dimension of this behaviour, is that it is often used as part of a manipulation attempt, to get someone to do something they wouldn't normally do because of its pot...
Word or phrase describing situation where adequately addressing "X is not harmful" involves a self-destructive proof
english
2017-02-08T15:44:15.570
[ { "message": "There's a nice cartoon on the web that epitomises what I'm trying to describe:<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ZXDv.gif\">Another dimension of this behaviour, is that it is often used as part of a manipulation attempt, to get someone to do something they wouldn't normally do because of its pot...
Word or phrase describing situation where adequately addressing "X is not harmful" involves a self-destructive proof
english
2017-02-08T15:44:15.570
[ { "message": "There's a nice cartoon on the web that epitomises what I'm trying to describe:<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ZXDv.gif\">Another dimension of this behaviour, is that it is often used as part of a manipulation attempt, to get someone to do something they wouldn't normally do because of its pot...
Word or phrase describing situation where adequately addressing "X is not harmful" involves a self-destructive proof
english
2017-02-08T15:44:15.570
[ { "message": "I'd like to know the term that's used to describe a list of payables that a company needs to pay at the end of the month (or any specific period)? \"Accounts payable\" seems to be tad technical. I'd like to know if there are other words for it.", "role": "user" }, { "message": "From 'b...
Another term for "accounts payable"?
english
2017-02-10T04:24:23.187
[ { "message": "I've heard this before, where someone has made something for a specific project and then they <code>verb</code> it to make it more generally available.<br>The example I can think of is Ruby on Rails:<blockquote> It was originally created by David Heinemeier Hansson for Basecamp and then he _____...
Word to create a generic tool from a specific tool. Used in programming (and perhaps elsewhere)
english
2017-02-10T06:41:12.260
[ { "message": "\"People are still coming out the church.\"or\"People still coming out of the church.\"I've seen people using both, but I'm not sure if they are both correct? Can you use still + ing without any other verb? \"She still crying.\" \"He still eating.\", \"Games still coming out\", etc.", "role": ...
Still usage without are or is and the -ing form, not related to adjective without a verb
english
2017-02-10T15:48:16.623