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I'm trying to look for a word that describes an act, a word that describes the action of putting a body part for example, foot, into a place where there is little or no fresh air, or where little or no fresh air will be able to enter (such as a shoe, a sock, or anything that surrounds, covers, wraps it etc.) in a way t... | Stifled. While it can also mean "to be cut off", in the context given it can mean to wrap up or suffocate in a way that prevents the flow of air. | Word to describe putting a body part in a place thus not allowing fresh air in...? | english |
Sometimes when you are going up an elevator, you kind of hear this sound as if the cables that are lifting the elevator are having some difficulties. Like the sound that a car makes when it abruptly stops. What's a word to refer to that sound? All I could think of was something like "a grinding sound came from above." ... | I suggest screeching : : a high shrill piercing cry usually expressing pain or terror | A word to refer to the sound that an elevator makes when its cables are having problems? | english |
I heard someone (whom I wasn't able to ask to explain the meaning) use the idiom "[blah blah blah] was <code> central to their value proposition </code> ". What does that mean? | Marketing term that means this is the value a company is trying to display to differentiate them from competition. A value proposition is the explanation of the potential value behind any decision. An example: A pizza place may make good pizza but their fast delivery may be central to their value proposition. So they w... | Central to their value proposition | english |
For example, someone who writes "I chose to study biology and chemistry at school because I am going to become a doctor after graduating." | Perhaps presumptuous characterized by presumption or tending to presume; bold; forward Presume is defined as to take (something) for granted; assume You also may consider pushy forward bold arrogant rash audacious conceited foolhardy overconfident bigheaded | What adjective can describe someone who counts his chickens before they're hatched? | english |
Could anybody please tell me the exact meaning of it? Is it used in everyday English? And could we use it in written? | It’s grammatical and readily understood. It means that she took things that didn’t belong to her so that she could pay for her boyfriend’s lavish lifestyle with the proceeds. If that’s what you need to say, then of course you can use it in any appropriate context. | "She stole to keep her boyfriend in luxury" | english |
After helping with the dishes, Eri swung her purse on her shoulder and said goodbye to her mother, promising she'll come back to see her soon. Keys in hand, her dad led Eri to the car, and then they drove (off) to the main street. Do I have to add off in that last sentence? I've seen examples like that before. When is ... | Drove to emphasises the destination. Drove off to emphasises the driving. | "Drove to the main road," or "drove off to the main road?" | english |
The following dialog is an excerpt from Terry Pratchet's Making Money : “Isn’t the fornication wonderful?” After quite a lengthy pause, Moist ventured, “Is it?” “Don’t you think so? There’s more here than anywhere else in the city, I’m told.” “Really?” said Moist, looking around nervously. “Er . . . do you have to come... | Yes, fornication once did mean arching or vaulting in English. The OED has it dating from 1703 in Richard Neve's The city and countrey purchaser, and builder's dictionary: or, The compleat builder's guide : Fornication, In Architecture, is an Arching, or Vaulting. The etymology shows it coming directly from Latin. The ... | Did 'fornication' ever mean vaulting? | english |
For instance, if someone says to you, "I like cake," and you reply, "I like to take care of my body," your response is a passive-aggressive way of implying that they don't like to take care of their body because they eat cake. I'm looking for an adjective to describe this type of response, something akin to passive-agg... | Haughty (“Conveying in demeanour the assumption of superiority; disdainful, supercilious”) and supercilious (“Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty”) seem relevant, along with some of the other terms in those definitions (eg arrogant , disdainful , and contemptuous ) along with related words o... | What is a word for implying someone else is wrong? | english |
I'm creating an AI app that understands the user's sentence. I'm currently working on questions, and I'm wondering what are some common question structures? I know questions commonly start with: auxiliary + subject + verb. If this is a question for english language learners, please move it. | I am sorely tempted to resort to Regular Expressions here, although I am far from being an expert in that discipline I think there are two basic forms of question in English. 1. Six "W" Questions (or questions that invite explanation, facts, or motivation): Who|What|When|Where|Why|How followed by a verb, typically form... | common question structures? | english |
In a scene in The great debaters , Denzel Washington's character asks his students to reiterate some lines. He asks: Who is the judge? And the students reply: The judge is god. Now, why is the answer not "the god is judge" instead? I think the former one is not appropriate because "The judge is god" means in a general ... | The judge is god means what the judge says is the law and you may not question that. He/she makes the ultimate decision in the courtroom. To be god is to be very good or in this case decide everything You can be a football god. Jimi Hendrix was/is considered a guitar god (The) (G)god is/will be the judge means somethin... | "The judge is god" or "The god is judge"? | english |
What does "he figures you" mean? I mean in this sentence: "He figures you get more overtime that way, being at a cheaper rate or whatnot." | "Figures" in this case means "to come to a conclusion". It essentially means that the person has used the premises that they have on hand to arrive at an understanding of the facts. However, the phrase "figures you" is an actual expression that has a different meaning. If someone "figures you", it means they have decid... | What does "someone figures someone" mean? | english |
I know this phrase from usage with DNS as Fully Qualified Domain Name but that's the only use case I'm aware of. So, 1. I'm wondering what "Fully Qualified" means by itself and how it is applicable to other subjects. and 2. is "fully qualified" and "unambiguous" interchangeable? | Fully Qualified means that whatever it is has all the qualifications which are applicable. This could mean a qualification such as an FQDN has: qualified adjective 2 not complete or absolute; limited [ODO] That is, a fully-qualified domain name is limited to a specific domain, and that limitation in scope is sufficient... | What does "fully qualified" mean by itself and how it can be used? | english |
Will anybody be able to mention the English word for "Volume per second (or preferably Volume per Time unit) or "Amount of task per a second"? Thank you. | For a general term describing some kind of processing I'd use "throughput" As Wikipedia states: Throughput is the movement of inputs and outputs through a production process. [...] Throughput can be best described as the rate at which a system generates its products / services per unit of time. | The single word for "Volume per second" | english |
I found the following sentence in a book. A good way of figuring out what a function is doing is to type it without the parentheses. Is this correct way of writing? Thanks. | It can, although the two instances in your example are not exactly of the same type. The first is is a form of the function verb be , (it forms the present progressive of do ), and the second is a form of the lexical verb be (here a verb in its own right). | Can a sentence have two verbs of same type - for example "is"? | english |
I would like to know why the idiom "running like clockwork" is not written as "running like a clockwork"? Is there some common rule that explains this? I am asking this question since I am not sure that this word is a mass noun, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clockwork | 'Clockwork' is a mass noun, like 'water'. A clock does not have 'a clockwork' is just has 'clockwork' (like a river has 'water' not 'a water'). | Why is "a" missing in "running like clockwork" | english |
I came across the word, “The wonk gap” used as the headline of the article written by Paul Krugman in New York Times’ September 8 issue. The word reappears in the following sentence: Senator Rand Paul --insisted, “the size of growth of government is enormous under President Obama” - which was completely untrue but was ... | A wonk is a person who is incredibly well informed on a subject, an expert who can instantly tell what is true or false about an area of public policy. A wonk can immediately understand the consequences of any new proposed law or regulation that would affect his realm of expertise, and can instantly detect any B.S. fro... | What does “Wonk gap” mean in brief? | english |
A typical pronunciation problem for Spanish speakers is that of words that begin with 'S + consonant'. For example, <code> Spain </code> may be pronounced <code> eh-spain </code> . What are other standard (eh-standar) pronunciation issues for Spanish speakers? (Note: This is a query for specific examples; thus, we do n... | Whatever English phonology has that Spanish doesn't. Distinction between tense and lax vowels. For example, Spanish speakers may pronounce “bit” like “beet” and “full” like “fool”. Additional consonant phonemes: /v/ (confused with /b/) /z/ (confused with /s/) /ʃ/, /ʒ/, an... | English pronunciation by Spanish speakers | english |
Consider the following statement that I quoted from Inheritance and Derived Classes (C# vs Java) You can extend the functionality of an existing class by creating a new class that derives from the existing class. The derived class inherits the properties of the base class, and you can add or override methods and proper... | All uses relate to the word derive in different ways, and are more or less equivalent but for different reasons, which relates to English rather than programming. Note that there is actually a third used in your examples, derives . Now, in non-technical English, derive means either to obtain something from some source,... | Are derived class and deriving class interchangeable terms? | english |
Which one is correct ? I mean should we use "THE" between "in" and "appropriate" or not ? | No "the". It isn't wrong but you already have a descriptor for time in appropriate. The stress should be on appropriate and "the" would take a little away from it. Also try not to use words that don't add to your sentence. | "In appropriate time" or "In THE appropriate time"? | english |
Because their strange features, even in my own language I find it difficult to decide by what name to call the shoes shown in the image below. I'm not looking for a technical term, but for a cute and funny name whose meaning, in the right context, elicits a positeve sense of hilarity. Some terms to which I thought are ... | Those are platform shoes; see pictures. (I don't know of a funny name for them, except that some similar shoes are called ho shoes .) Platform shoes with spikes are sometimes called ankle breaker shoes or ankle breakers . If you refer to shoes like those in your picture as stilts , yes, that will be perceived as humor.... | How to call certain kinds of tall shoes that women use to wear? | english |
While reading a short story , I came across a use of the word "buggy" that I'm not familiar with: It’s a hot, buggy August morning, too early for lunch, so we find a deserted picnic table without much problem. I found two definitions of buggy ( Dictionary.com ): infested with bugs. Slang. crazy; insane; peculiar. To me... | The meaning infested with bugs applies. The whole phrase indicates that there were many bugs that morning (typical for many areas of the US in August). | What does "buggy" mean in "a hot, buggy August morning"? | english |
"I am not pretty sure about what to do" what does PRETTY exact meaning out here? What places we can use it? | The word 'pretty', as a degree modifier, is not used with regular negative statements. "I am pretty sure what to do." [here, pretty = 'well on the way to being'] *"I am not pretty sure (about) what to do." One could contrive a sentence containing a quote which would license it: Joe: "John's pretty sure about what to do... | I am not pretty sure about what to do" what does PRETTY exact meaning out here? | english |
Just a short while ago, I discovered that the English adjective 'galore', as Merriam-Webster reads, must be used postpositively — e.g., 'bargains galore '. Thus, my question is, what is the reason why, differently from all ? other adjectives, 'galore' must be used postpositively? | There are several post-positive adjectives . In some languages post-positive adjectives are commonplace, but as you note, in English they are rare, limited to archaic or institutional expressions. Some adjectives have a different shade of meaning if used post-positively. There are many set phrases such as "best room av... | Why must 'galore' be used postpositively? | english |
In a few European languages, there are words derived from latin calcare - literally to tread, in these words it means to blow bellows, for example in church organs; in Polish it's kalikować - a nearly-forgotten word by now, along with Kalikant , which was the name of the occupation - the person performing the work. Is ... | Check out this historic article mentioning organ pumpers and the "organ-pumping art": http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19380415&id=s-4-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=IE0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4307,4907611 There are lots of similar results for 'organ pumper' in Google. | Is there a specific name for the activity of blowing the bellows? | english |
I wrote the following: Eri was still staring at the screen, but her eyes were expresionless, as if in a trance. Her father laughed. "I admit it was a shocking footage. But Eri, you look like you've just seen a ghost." "Oh," Eri said, snapping out (of it) . "It's nothing. I just had a long day." Should I just write, sna... | If you mean something like ‘desist from (an attitude, etc.), to change a mood, pattern of behaviour, etc., by sudden effort’, then you need to write ‘snapping out of it’. | "Snapping out" vs "snapping out of it." | english |
I am wondering if saying "tune to this music" would make sense? Guitars can be tuned to particular note, can people tune to song, or music, or idea? Google doesn't return many results for "tune to" so I guess it sounds strange, but I found a song "Tune to the Music" by Status Quo . I am asking this question because I a... | I checked the lyrics for "Tune to the music", the song where you got this from. And, as I suspected, here "tune" is not a verb, but a noun. There's no tune to the music This means something like "There is no melody/harmony in this music." Regarding to your question, you could use maybe use "tune in to the music" as it ... | "Tune to " - does it make sense? | english |
What is the difference in meaning between "pardon me" and "I beg your pardon"? | I beg your pardon : Used to show that you strongly disagree or that you are angry about something that someone has said: I beg your pardon, young man - I don't want to hear you speak like that again! Pardon me : Used to say that you are sorry for doing something wrong or for being rude. In all cases, I beg your pardon ... | Difference between "pardon me" and "I beg your pardon" | english |
Is there the English term for switching phonemes between words, creating something like Freudian mistakes? For example, changing 'lumberjack' to 'jumper's luck'. As fair as I can remember, one of Gummi Bears from TV child series was permanently using such constructions. | You are talking about a spoonerism, and it was used frequently by Zummi of the Gummi Bears childrens TV show. Lumberjack to Jumper's Luck isn't a great example though, a more traditional example of a spoonerism would not change the b to a p. | English term for switching phonemes between words? | english |
I've checked Oxford Advanced Learners for acute : an acute illness is one that has quickly become severe and dangerous Compare:CHRONIC And for chronic : lasting for a long time Compare:ACUTE Can a disease be both "acute" and "chronic" simultaneously? For example it could be the case where a certain illness quickly beco... | A chronic condition is one that persists for a long time. Asthma is a chronic condition: if you have asthma today, then you almost certainly had asthma yesterday and will still have it next week. Source and more details: Medline , OED . Acute has two relevant meanings. In colloquial usage, it just means severe ; so in ... | Difference between "acute", "chronic" and "obtuse" in the sense of illness | english |
I was reading a short story when I stumbled across the following sentence. "[H]e overheard his dad say it wasn’t worth its price in shit." I was a bit surprised with the negation. I'm used to the following use of the phrase: "It is worth its price in shit." I understand it like: "The price you pay for it is fairly low ... | "Wasn't worth its price in shit" coming from a more common phrase "Not worth its weight in shit" - the author substituted weight for price. Not sure if he was doing this unintentionally or if he was just trying to convey random speech patterns. Basically it means its not worth shit. | What does "in s****" mean in the following context? | english |
I read in the news that twerking and selfie have been added to dictionary recently. Did it give any origin? Is there any information or details about them? | They were both added to Oxford Dictionaries Online last month. The origin of twerk is given as ‘1990s: probably an alteration of work ’ and of selfie as ‘early 21st century: from self + -ie ’. | When did "Twerking" and "Selfie" enter the dictionary? | english |
I'm currently rebuilding a website for a client. On their website, the tag-line reads "Specializing in Manufactured Housing Communities" Is this grammatically correct? In my opinion, "Specialists in Manufactured Housing Communities" sounds better. If it is grammatically correct, however, I'll leave it how it is. | To me specializing in manufactured housing (as in some field of activity) sounds fine. Specializing in communities sounds a little bit weird to me. But as @TrevorD pointed there's nothing wrong with using specialists in . There are many results on Google saying something like 'Specialists in General Surgery' ( http://s... | -ing phrase tag-line? | english |
Ever wonder why the waiter at the restaurant you went to last week is now giving you dirty looks. Well, perhaps you didn't leave them a tip! Then, the question is: What is a person who never leaves a tip called? A bit of searching come up with "penny-pincher" ("unwilling to spend money"), but I'm unsure this is the bes... | You might be looking for a term specifically used to mean a bad tipper, not just a stingy person. Food service industry jargon includes several widely used terms for a bad tipper: Canadian , a known or obvious bad tipper, according to the Chicago Tribune article “ 10 things you might not know about tipping ”. For examp... | What is a person who never leaves a tip called? | english |
I was wondering if we could use mind's ear just way mind's eye is used. Is it ok to use it as a valid phrase? | yes it is valid, there is reference of this word in <code> wiktionary.org </code> Meaning: The mental faculty or inner sense with which one produces or reproduces imagined or recalled sounds solely within the mind; the supposed organ within the mind which experiences such sounds. Reference Example : 1849, Charlotte Bro... | Is "mind's ear" a valid phrase? | english |
As is commonly known, one of the most delicate question is how to refer to people of mixed race, which can be a matter of condemnation. Some words may have fueled the problem and I never would have thought that the word miscegenation were one of these. In fact, as Merriam-Webster reads, miscegenation especially refers ... | Miscegenation was coined in the US precisely to condemn such relations. Its historical context was in arguments in defense of slavery: The possibility of mixed-race marriages or sexual relations being projected as an outcome so horrible that it was good that slavery was preventing it (of course slavery led to a lot of ... | How to refer to people of mixed race? | english |
Pudget Systems has a computer called Genesis: A cutting edge, highly reliable workstation optimized for post-production and design. What exactly does post-production mean in this sentence? | From Wikipedia : "[Post-production] is a term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and/or recording the completed work." In this context it mainly consists of video editing and adding visual/special effects. These tasks require highly powerful machines. | What does "post-production" mean? | english |
I'm trying to refer to a marriage but I've used the word too much already in my paragraph so I need to find another word which I could use in a sentence like: "I had the pleasure to attend to the -------" In Spanish, I could say something like "tuve el placer the estar presente para tan feliz ocasión¨ but that´s really... | Supplementing the answer from @JeffSahol, if you mean you attended the marriage ceremony, you could say: I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of X & Y Addendum , following clarified question Even though I don't speak Spanish, I can see that the English translation of ¨feliz ocasión" would be "happy occasion"... | what would be a concept in which "marriage" is one of its instances? | english |
Is it correct to say bridge the problems? Is it a commonly used expression? I'd like to use it to express that the person I'm talking with should solve the problems. | "Bridge the problems" would typically mean that you weren't seeking to solve them, rather you wanted to find workarounds to get around (or over) the issues. For example: Dave's car and bike were both broken but, by getting the train, he had bridged his transportation problems. Ideally, if the problem needs to be correc... | "Bridge the problems" - is it correct? | english |
I met a ligature "og" in one of the manuscripts. It is hard to see this ligature there (look at the word "logicae". Have you met anything similar? Is there a better manuscript with this ligature or it's just a particular handwriting? | That is indeed a ligature and so called in palaeography. It is completely normal in many Mediaeval and Early-Modern scripts. The ligature æ is of the same type. From the Wikipedia article on ligature : In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes or letters are joined as a single glyph . Lig... | A ligature "og" | english |
Why is it " Honey Badger don't care! " and not "Honey Badger doesn't care!" ? | The reason why don't is is used in that title is that is imitates certain non-standard dialects of English, where don't can be used with the 3rd person singular. It is similar to the way people jocularly use ain't : it has a certain irony and force that can be appropriate for rhetorical or artistic effect. As Az Za sai... | Honey badger don't / doesn't care! | english |
I read an article about the difference between nauseous and nauseated: It seems the article at last indicate that both nauseous and nauseated can mean the state of wanting to vomit. Is that true? Is that a mistake that too many people make so people basically accept this misusage as correct one? | Nausea , by itself, is the urge to vomit. I had really bad nausea. Nauseated is the verb meaning to become affected with nausea. I felt really nauseated all of a sudden. Nauseating is the quality of inflicting nausea on someone. Man, that smell was really nauseating. Nauseous is the weird one, which can mean either 'na... | What's the difference between nauseous and nauseated? | english |
New York Times article “In golf, moments good and bad are well remembered” (June 14) ends up with the following episode: "Jerry Kelly (PGA golfer) said that his steely memory of golf extended to his personal life, especially when driving. 'I remember all those people who have cut me off,' Kelly said. 'I try to stay ahe... | ‘Juices’ is a kind of slangy term that means ‘a person’s vitality or creative faculties’ . The creative faculties are of course what is referenced in the expression mentioned in the question linked to by jwpat7 in the comment above; in this case, it’s the other meaning we’re looking for. Since a person’s vitality is se... | What does “I really get the juices flowing when I’m driving” mean? | english |
I would like to know if there is a difference in the following: Get it clean! Make it clean! Get it wet! Make it wet! And which of the following are suitable: Make the baby calm Get the baby calm Shut the baby up | Get is rather more peremptory. It is more likely to be used in situations where there is a difference in power between the person giving the order and the person on the receiving end. In practice, alternatives to your examples, such as Clean it and Calm the baby down , are more likely in most situations. But it is impo... | Make it clean vs Get it clean - difference? | english |
I'm currently analyzing verbs with Stanford CoreNLP and WordNet. I'm interested in particular in verb meanings. I came across sentences like " <code> The scene takes place on the grass. </code> " and I found the verb take place in WordNet. However, these sentences don't seem to be discussed anywhere. It is known that p... | Take place is, in the words of the ‘Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English’, a ‘multi-word verb construction’ consisting of a verb ( take ) and a noun phrase ( place ). Such verbs, formed mainly with take, make, have and do , ‘can combine with noun phrases to form idiomatic verbal expressions. In many ca... | What kind of word is "place" in "take place"? | english |
What's the word to describe the phenomenon of the final 't' sound becoming a stop without aspiration, vs. how it sounds at the beginning of a word? Does any one particular dialect/accent of English exhibit this characteristic more or less than another? | Disclaimer: When referring to British English, I am referring to non-colloquialized British English. The pronunciation, as it is intended in a formal and correct sense. Given the enormous and varying accents across the United Kingdom, it is impossible to give an accurate assessment; it would require a thesis. I am usin... | Pronunciation of final T sounds in English | english |
I received this in my email. Please be reminded in accordance with the below email. Is something wrong with this sentence? | Yes, there is. Below is an adverb, not an adjective, and cannot be used to modify email . It has to be 'Please be reminded in accordance with the email below.' | Is this sentence a valid construction? | english |
I always used to think the word was ignorant but it has turned out that I am wrong. | If somebody is ignoring others out of superiority complex, then the word is snobbish. If somebody is ignoring others out of one's reserved nature, then the word can be aloof. | What is a word for someone who intentionally ignores other people a lot? | english |
I've seen questions framed in the following manner many a time: "Why the sun shines?" "Why hair grows?" While the most correct way to frame these kind of questions is obviously: "Why does the sun shine?" "Why does hair grow?" I was wondering if the former two sentences are grammatically sound. They are not something I ... | Clauses beginning with Why are often used as headings to articles that answer the implied question, but the use of a question mark in such cases is inappropriate and misleading. | "Why the sun shines?" | english |
Today I saw an idiomatic road sign: "Pretty Muddy". I found this lack of strict English on a road sign unusual (on par with my "Dead Slow" official speed limit sign in Leeds, pic below), but as it turned out it's a charity race and the signs were merely directions. This got me thinking however, how do words like "prett... | The OED’s earliest citations for the word as an adjective are from the Old English period, when it meant ‘cunning, crafty’ and subsequently ‘clever, skilful, able’. It was only in the fifteenth century that it came to have meanings associated with pleasing appearance. The earliest citation for its use as an adverb mean... | When and how did "pretty" enter English as an intensifying adverb? | english |
I'm curious about this phrase Will you be needing [...] ? It seems gramatically correct; I am also fine with "need" used in continuous time. But I'm wondering if it is used in spoken language... For example, I want to take a shower (which might take a while) so I ask my roommate if he is fine with that: Will you be nee... | Will you need... and Will you be needing... differ in that the second of these is a less direct and hence more polite way to phrase the question. Swan in Practical English Usage (p196) explains it well: The tense can be used to make polite enquiries about people's plans. (By using the future progressive to ask 'What ha... | Is phrase "will you be needing ..." correct? | english |
The Canadian children's network, Treehouse is in the process of replacing the show "This is Emily Yeung" with "This is Scarlett and Isaiah". That doesn't actually sound wrong, but would it be more correct to say "These are Scarlett and Isaiah"? That would definitely be the case if you were to elaborate "These are my si... | A compound subject can be singular or plural depending on what you mean. Penn and Teller is a magic act. Penn and Teller are the actors. In your context you will have to determine for yourself which is more apt, singular or plural. | Personal Introductions: "This is" or "These are" | english |
Unless "male chauvinist" is the most common way. For example, in Spanish we just say "machista." I'm looking for something short and common, like that. I checked on Google but the only thing I found was that: male chauvinist. The other alternative is sexist. But that's a little different. The word should mean: the beli... | The most common way to say "male chauvinist" is in fact male chauvinist . But in your sentence, I would change it into an adjective: Your ideology sounds a bit male chauvinistic to me. Addendum (in response to comment) It has been suggested in a comment that the word male could be omitted. Although the word chauvinist ... | What's the most common way to say "male chauvinist?" | english |
What is the English name of this instrument , that measures the consumption of water? In Hebrew we call it "Sheon Mayim" (literally: "water clock"), but in English, water clock is a clock for measuring time, based on the flow of water . Another Hebrew name is "Mad Mayim" (literally: "water measurer"), but in English wa... | That is a water meter. In a lot of part of America you will see a bigger sized "green" meter that is checked every so often by the water company so they can send bills. This is a typical older style or one found in larger multi-unit buildings. | The instrument that measures the consumption of water | english |
I've heard that the word Oriental , if used to people, is racism. Is it true? And if it is, why? | Possibly because people are not carpets. I have several oriental carpets given to me by Asian friends Do note that in the UK, Asian are not Chinese or Japanese. Also note that some Asians may call themselves oriental like African American may call themselves whatever they want. Lastly, my Asian friends are just my frie... | Is use of "Oriental" racism? | english |
In an interview of co-host of NBS Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski by Erin Skarda of Time magazine, Brzezinski gave 7 tips for women to take into their next career generation starting “Don’t act like a man,” “Be authentic” to “Be ready to walk,” and “Shoot for respect first, friendship later.” http://ideas.time.com/2013/03... | There are lots of things going on here. 'playing the X card' means to bring up or use X as an issue in your own favor (yes as a metaphor for any kind of game situation like cards, where you have strategy or fact hidden or unannounced and you 'play' it). For example, for two people in a debate, one may make an ad homine... | What does “Lose the Drama” mean as one of 7 ways for women at work to negotiate? | english |
I noticed the capitalization within sentences. For example, Great experience in Java, Android SDK with core knowledge of Object Oriented Programming principles and Design Patterns. Is there a grammar rule explaining the capitalization? Update #1. Now we have the following opinions. @ Jim and @ Sweet72 They're all prope... | As far as Java and Android SDK are concerned, they're proper nouns. Object-oriented programming is often written as OOP. Perhaps the author of the sentence thought it should be capitalised because the abbreviated form OOP has capitalised letters. The proper way of writing it would be 'object-oriented programming', sinc... | Job requirements. Why do they write words with capital letters within sentences? | english |
Is there any phrase with the word "prize" that would describe that the prize is a material one? I.e. you would get some kind of a product or thing, not money. | You could consider swag products given away free, typically for promotional purposes: check out the fun bag of swag we gave our guests! Since the source of non-cash prizes are often donating them to advance their products, you might also call them promotional prizes . Be careful, swag is understood by some to be an acr... | A word or term for a physical type of a prize? | english |
Which is correct/better to state: He was orally informed OR He was verbally informed. What determines when it is suitable to use either, i.e. verbally or orally. | Verbally comes from Latin verbum, “word.” Its adjective form verbal is often used in the sense of “spoken,” and contrasted with “written.” Orally comes from Late Latin oralis, which comes from Latin os, “mouth.” It means “by mouth.” Like verbally, orally is sometimes use in the sense of “spoken”. From Grammarist.com : ... | Orally or Verbally | english |
“Thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns" What does this metaphor mean and what is the origin? I know it is an ancient one, but couldn't find anything else! Is it obsolete now? | To spin a yarn is an idiom/metaphor for telling a long tale. From Etymology online [bold is mine]: text (n.) late 14c., “wording of anything written,” from Old French texte, Old North French tixte (12c.), from Medieval Latin textus “the Scriptures, text, treatise,” in Late Latin “written account, content, characters us... | “Thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns" | english |
Related with my question about the currency of “sheconomy,” ”there was the following sentence in the Time magazine’s article – “Woman power: The rise of the sheconomy”: “Johnson & Johnson found out the painful way, with a 2008 Motrin campaign that followed the inner monologue of a mom toting her infant around in a ... | First of all, "official mom" was a figure of speech in the ad. It does not exist in mainstream English. But the offensive part was that the backaches shown in the ad were a "badge" of motherhood. The implication was that you needed to have them (and take Motrin) to be an "official mom," or, in plain English, "a real mo... | What does the expression “official mom” mean, that forced J&J to apologize and cancel their ad? | english |
What does wallop of money mean in the following: That is one hell of a wallop of money It is from a BBC film about Warren Buffet. | It means "That is a lot of money". [Emphatically] To Wallop means something along the lines of "To strike with a hard blow". A wallop is a hard punch. To pack a wallop is an idiom. I have often heard that spicy foods can "pack a wallop". I also thought wallop could mean a large amount or sum, but I can't find the refer... | What is a wallop of money? | english |
I am a non-native English speaker, I have searched a lot in google to find the exact word for the material which is used to thread Tennis racquets or the material which is used to connect the fishing hook and the fishing rod. But i did not find any. Can anybody tell me what's the exact word for that.? | Tennis String The material used for a long time to string a Tennis racket (racquet is use more in club names than in daily use) is Catgut Natural gut is still used as a high-performance string in tennis racquets, although it had more popularity in the past and is being displaced by synthetic strings. Fishing Line For f... | Exact word for the material which is used to thread Tennis racquets | english |
Consider the following: I pull my ear. He pulls his ear. She pulls her ear. What would be the correct form of "ear" for plural subjects? Is there a generalized rule that I can be pointed to? For example, they pull their ear just sounds wrong to me (do "they" collectively have an ear sitting around somewhere to pull?), ... | They pull their ears would be grammatically correct. However, it does not convey whether the theys pull one or two ears. (The possibility that they pull the ear or ears of someone else in the group is a third possibility, but so unlikely as to not be a real issue). There are a number of ways to convey that only one ear... | Singular action for a plural subject | english |
I'm using IEEE citation style . If information is cited from one source, then another, then again from the first how does the inline citation work? Take the following made up example: Dogs make good pets[ 1 ]. Scientific studies show that dog owners get more exercise[ 2 ]. As long as dogs receive walks on a regular bas... | S.Vidyaraman, a post-graduate student at the University of Kansas, has what appears to be a better guide to IEEE citation than the one you are asking about. It's apparently originally published by Monash University. Citing - IEEE style citation The IEEE citation style is now widely used in Electrical, electronic and co... | Inline citation for source refrenced a second time | english |
In how many ways would you rephrase these sentences? When my cat went missing I was a wreck. When my cat went missing I was beside myself with worry. The purpose of each sentence is twofold: to describe the cat owner's feelings, and to make the sentence as emotional as possible. | There are many ways to rephrase a sentence, and at the same time maintain its original message. I'll limit my answer to the first sentence. When my cat went missing I was a wreck. You could add a comma after missing . When my cat went missing , I was a wreck. You could invert the two clauses; in which case no comma is ... | Rephrasing the sentences | english |
I could only think of " started on the food ," though I'm not very sure about it (I think I have to add got to it?). Other suggestions? (this is for a short story I'm writing). | tucked in could work, informally, but is rather British - possibly also Australian. | Other ways of saying "...began eating?" | english |
I was reading stackexchange-url ("this") question on meta.ELU and was struck by what, to me, was a strange use of the phrasal verb to stand up : The site for English Language Learners was stood up in large part so that non-native speakers could have a place where their questions, which would be regarded by some to be "... | This is very interesting; as the offending writer, I had no idea this would sound so strange to so many. I did some research, and I found that the term seems to be used almost exclusively by two communities: Computer systems and web development Government and military organizations Given that I have a computer science ... | Usage of "stood up" to mean "set up" | english |
After editing a question recently, the OP undid those edits stating he did not like the bad changes I made with regards to the grammar of the post. The author originally wrote: Nobody in this community, including myself, has high enough a score to re-open questions. Irrelevant to my question here, I made the edit becau... | I would tend to use "a high enough ...", as "she has a high enough score" seems better than "she has high enough a score" or "she has high enough of a score", though the intended meaning is clear enough in all three cases. "a high enough ..." clearly wins an Google Ngram analysis as it cannot find "high enough of a ...... | "a high enough" vs. "high enough a" | english |
In past tense when is it better to use one over the other? has been [verb] vs has [verb] For example: Your order has been shipped vs. Your order has shipped Is there a difference between the two? | Both sentences are correct. As to which is better, it will depend on the context. It would be unusual for someone selling to another person on eBay to use the second variation ( Your order has shipped ). But it is the standard usage in notifications from Amazon. The verb " ship " is an example of a transitive/intransit... | What are the differences between "has" vs "has been"? | english |
I wimped out in answering stackexchange-url ("this question"), dropping the commas and going to parentheses in this sentence, because I was not sure of the placement/correctness of commas in this construction. Now I'd like to get clear on how to use commas in this sentence (without reformulating it...no moving "poems",... | I think your wimp-out answers your question. The phrase and also enjoy a number of Percy Shelley's is effectively a parenthetical and, as such, is set of by commas in lieu of parentheses. The issue arises because the parenthetical shares an object with the main clause of the sentence. But sharing an object is not reall... | use of commas with conjunction reduction | english |
Dogs are usually friendly; however, while eating some are unpredictable. Does "eating" need to be followed by a comma? It appears to me that a comma is necessary because "while eating" functions as a subordinating conjunction, but I want to be 100% certain. | As I thought, the correct sentence was: Dogs are usually friendly; however, while eating, some are unpredictable. See http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/conjunctiveadverb.htm for more on conjunctive adverbs. | Subordinating conjunction following conjunctive adverb | english |
Reading "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" on Project Gutenberg I come across a sentence I can't quite comprehend. Also, word "googling" caught my eye: whilst he made all sorts of signs with his hands and said "Goo-goo—goo-goo-goo" all the time, like a baby that can't talk ... The duke he never let on he suspicioned what... | It looks like an example of onomatopoeia to me...that's the sound of (thick) buttermilk coming out of the jug. (Unless of course it's a highly intelligent form of jug that is capable of time travel, using a web browser.) | What does "Like a jug that's googling out buttermilk" mean? | english |
I am looking for a word that means "micro and macro". For instance, if I was describing an economic phenomenon that can be observed on both the micro and macro levels of the economy, I could call it a __ phenomenon. If you don't know of a "real" English term for this, I'm open to suggestions for new words! | No need to invent new words right yet, we have terms for many of these things! One of the most commonly recognized scale-independent forms is the Fractal . It mains the same form whether 'big' or 'small'. In fact, the concepts 'big' or 'small' don't even have a real connection to fractals, which gets at the essence of ... | Is there a word that means "both micro and macro" | english |
In the Jewel song Sara Swan Sleepyhead we have this passage: There’s a knock at the door A funny suit Sammy wore And on his face an ear to ear grin The bolded part seems weird to me. Is this correct grammar, and how common a usage is it? | It is called inversion , this case inversion of the position of the object with the rest of the sentence. It can be used for emphasis of the phrase in first position and it is correct. It is unusual, but not exactly rare. | Object coming before the verb? | english |
An example: the sentence "Upon finishing these books, I think the reader has a new perspective on history." Taken literally, it could mean that "I, upon finishing these books, think..." Or it could mean "The reader, upon finishing these books, has a new perspective on history; in my opinion." Even though the second is ... | The sentence contains an example of a dangling modifier . Here is the opening text of the Wikipedia article of the same name: A dangling modifier (a specific case of which is the dangling participle) is an ambiguous grammatical construct, often considered an error in prescriptivist accounts of English, whereby a gramma... | What is the correct name for this particular unclear-subject error? | english |
I was recently chastised at work for using the word " cool " in an email chain--an act that I attribute to being overly-formal for no other reason than to uphold an unnecessarily perceived "law" of formality. Is there an English word that would better describe this? | The apt words are Prig a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, especially in a self-righteous or irritating manner. Prude a person who is excessively proper or modest in speech, conduct, dress, etc. Pedant a person who overemphas... | Is there a word to describe "being formal for the sake of being formal"? | english |
What is a balad as use in this blog entry? You get an interesting feedback when you consult the elevation data on your Pulse. After a balad or a race you can instantly see how many feet/meters you’ve moved vertically. You can even try to guess it with your friends! | According to this Withings is a French company. <code> Balad </code> or <code> Balade </code> is the French word for walk or stroll. This site has this definition: <code> go (walk) is used in French </code> | What is a "balad"? | english |
In my work I occasionally write about neurons. A common description of the relationship between two populations of neurons is to describe one as being "afferent" or "efferent" with respect to another. One essentially means "downstream" and the other means "upstream," but, for the life of me, I have the hardest time rem... | Yes and no, the following entries are from etymonline.com (emphasis mine): effect (n.) late 14c., "a result," from Old French efet (13c., Modern French effet) "result, execution, completion, ending," from Latin effectus "accomplishment, performance," from past participle stem of efficere "work out, accomplish," from ex... | Are effect and affect related to efferent and afferent? | english |
I'm a software developer. My situation is, I'm working with my customer (onshore project manager) via chatting using Skype. He helps me to make his side's server available and give me a link to the test page so that I can test the page. After he send me the link. I reply: <code> OK. I will test it now. </code> But my b... | "OK Noted" would be considered a pointless affectation in many environments. It doesn't necessarily add any information, and in most IT environments, your response would give exactly the right amount of information. That said, he is your boss, so depending on your particular goals and aims, and his personality, you may... | When to use "Ok noted"? | english |
Per this question stackexchange-url (""Writing things down" vs. "writing things up""), it is clear that things can be written "up" (typically in respect to longer entries that are being thoroughly considered) or "down" (typically in respect to quick notes.) My question is more etymological - the pre... | Most English prepositions and phrasal verb particles have some intrinsic physical meaning, usually from the perspective of a human body. For instance, We refer to something or someone being located <a href="stackexchange-url at a point, on a surface, or in a container We refer to something (the trajector) moving <a hre... | How did the prepositions up and down both come to be associated with writing? | english |
A bicycle bell is a percussive signaling instrument mounted on a bicycle for warning pedestrians and other cyclists. Wikipedia says that a bicycle bell produces a "ding-ding" sound , and so, since I'm not sure that "ding-ding" sound is the better choice currently in use, I wonder whether there is a single term with whi... | you should say jingle a tinkling or clinking sound, as of small bells or of small pieces of resonant metal repeatedly struck one against another. JINGLE BELL PUKY G22 9913-22 MM Another word as correctly suggested in the comment below (@PLL) and in the definition above is tinkle to give forth or make a succession of sh... | Is there a term for the sound of a bicycle bell? | english |
I am writing a project for college about smart phones. Which would you say is correct in a possessive context? Windows Phone's applications or Windows Phone' applications My thoughts say the top is correct as Phone does not end in an S, but it just sounds horrible and wrong. The bottom one sounds correct but in my head... | Your source of confusion is apparently in assuming that every time you put two nouns together, one of them must be a possessive, so you're fretting about where to put an apostrophe when there's simply no need for one in the first place. Just as in "truck driver", "game designer", "world war" etc, what you have is simpl... | Possessive s, apostrophe on end or not? | english |
What is the homophone of the word may ? I can't find one real dictionary of homophones, nor is there an answer through Google. | Since a homophone is defined as: Each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling, e.g., new and knew . I guess that means that may ("allowed to"), May (the month), and Mae (the female name) are homophones. | Which word has the same pronuncation as the word "may"? | english |
I always learned that the parentheses end inside the punctuation like this: A sentence about some particular thing (with a parenthetical note at the end). However, sometimes I find that it is necessary to have a period at the end of the statement inside the parentheses. This makes the sentence terminate oddly if I foll... | What you wrote is correct --- all of it. <code> etc. </code> needs a period because it is an abbreviation and it is separated from the period ending the sentence (by a right paren). (But if you write a whole sentence as a parenthetical remark then the period ending it is inside the parens.) | What is the proper from for punctuation concerning parentheses? | english |
When writing a formal letter addressed to someone whose gender is unknown, how important is it to use "Dear Sir or Madam", instead of "Dear Sir"? I was taught that "Dear Sir" is an acceptable gender-neutral salutation but times may have changed, is this right or wrong? | Dear Sir may have been an acceptable gender-neutral salutation some time ago, but I would suggest 'To whom it may concern,' as a more modern and suitable alternative :) | "Dear Sir (or Madam)" when gender unknown? | english |
Why do we use "to it" at the end of a sentence of this kind? A. The word has a negative tone to it B. The word has a negative tone Does A. indicate a focus on the intrinsic nature of the negative tone being talked about, or is it just unnecessary fluff at the end of a sentence? Do these two sentences have the same mean... | The technical term in rhetoric for "fluff," as you put it, is periphrasis . It's a way of expressing oneself by "beating around the bush" and not "getting to the point." The examples you cite, however, do not seem to have a superfluity of words that we associate with periphrasis. In "She has an air about her," the word... | "The word has a negative tone to it"- why "to it"? | english |
What's a phrase that can convey the idea of "a variety of different jobs with no central theme"? "Various odds and ends" was the one that occurred to me, but it didn't feel exactly right and thefreedictionary also says it's used for material things, not jobs. Is there a phrase that conveys this idea better? Edit: Thank... | The best term here is: Odd job a casual or isolated piece of work, especially one of a routine domestic or manual nature: as in: "Mike doesn't have permanent employment, he makes a living doing odd jobs for the local businesses". | What's the phrase to imply random jobs? | english |
I'm struggling to find a word or short term for a person or group of people who do not experience jealousy/remorse/etc. due to a lack of something. For example, people from the middle ages could not be upset about the lack of cell phones because cell phones did not exist back then and they had no idea something along t... | You may want to use oblivious . | What is a term for someone who doesn't know what they haven't experienced? | english |
Is there a phrase or word to express "have a heavy/strong taste in doing things or about sex" can I use "hardcore" ijn this situation? | I may need to reformulate this answer if you edit your question but you may be able to use the following: Penchant : a strong or habitual liking for something or tendency to do something: or: Proclivity : a tendency to choose or do something regularly; an inclination or predisposition towards a particular thing For exa... | heavy or strong taste in doing things | english |
What is the difference between concatenate and catenate ? Are the words interchangeable? concatenate : 1. To connect or link in a series or chain. 2. Computer Science To arrange (strings of characters) into a chained list. catenate : To connect in a series of ties or links; form into a chain. Background: Which is more ... | I'm a programmer and concatenate would definitely be the standard and most natural-sounding term. But judging by the definitions of the terms, this seems to just be a matter of convention. You could argue that all chains chain something together and thus concatenate is etymologically redundant, but concatenate has won ... | Concatenate vs. Catenate | english |
I'm using IEEE citation and the title of the work I am trying to cite has punctuation at the end. I'm unsure how to proceed because part of the citation includes putting a period at the end of the title. For example, I am citing this webpage and am not sure if the title should appear with a question mark and period whe... | The style guide includes an example of a title with a question mark: E-mail Author. Subject line of posting. Personal E-mail (date). Example: J. Aston. “RE: new location, okay?” Personal e-mail (Jul. 3, 2003). Based on this, I infer that you only add the period if the title does not already end with a punctuation mark ... | Citing a name with punctuation at the end | english |
Is there a word for calling out in contexts like: if I am in a dark room and I call out "who's there?" if I am in a desert and I call out "is anyone out there?" if I am sending a broadcast over a communication channel to see who is on the line? Broadcast might work but I am wondering if there is a more "human" word for... | There are phrases (and related verbs and nouns) that describe the first two such as give a holler This is related to the verb holler to shout or yell (something) but it has a less excited quality, and is often used to refer to a greeting, and can even be used to convey contact me . A similar term is give a shout . This... | Is there a word for 'calling out to anyone who may respond'? | english |
What is the name of the horizontal division line? Is there a name for it other than "division line? | Vinculum is a word used broadly to describe any horizontal line in mathematical symbols. The line between numerator and denominator, the line above the recurring decimal, etc are some examples of vinucula. More commonly, the line is called a fraction or division bar. On a related note, the '/' sign denoting division in... | What is the name of the Division line? | english |
Can you omit the second occurrence of the word "poems" in a sentence like the following? <code> I like Lord Byron's poems, and also enjoy a number of Percy Shelley's [poems]. </code> | Yes, you can. Also, extending @FumbleFingers' comment, you could even omit the first "poems": I like Lord Byron's (and also enjoy a number of Percy Shelley's) poems. | Ellipsis in noun phrases with possessive case | english |
Dong as in ding-dong is clearly onomatopoetic as confirmed by etymonline.com : ding dong imitative of the sound of a bell, c.1560. and similarly for ding : ding (v.) 1819, "to sound as metal when struck," possibly abstracted from ding-dong, of imitative origin. The meaning "to deal heavy blows" is c.1300, probably from... | No one really knows why they're called dongles . An early dongle was a "solid and non-dangling RS232 block", and it's only really modern dongles that dangle, and only then when attached to a key-fob or lanyard. A claim they were invented by "Don Gall" was just made-up for an advert. However, we do know the computer don... | Etymology of "dong" and "dongle" | english |
So, I was trying to think of a word that had the opposite meaning of "latent". Latent means "existing, yet unmanifested". I'm looking for a word that meant "existing and manifested, yet dissipating throughout his life". For example, angry behaviour could exist in someone from an early age but then disappear over a few ... | It sounds as if you are seeking a word you used in your question - dissipating to disappear gradually, or to cause something to disappear gradually: It took months of effort to dissipate the oil spill in the North Sea. There are numerous other terms for this gradual decline, such as fading extinguishing exhausting decl... | Antonym: Latent | english |
I once had a piece of written work corrected by a very experienced English teacher who told me that writing " according to me " sounded weird and nobody who was English/British would ever say it. I didn't question him, as there was another teacher, Australian, who nodded her approval and so, blushing I murmured "thanks... | "According to so-and-so" is a well-accepted phrase to indicate a certain level of authority. It doesn't mean authority in the sense of indisputable, world-class, absolute authority. It means authority only at the level of indicating that this is the person to whom the statement can be attributed. It therefore has rathe... | According to me, it was acceptable, but according to him, it wasn't | english |
In my native language sometimes we use humorous titles of books, articles, tutorials, etc among the lines of: "How to get rich and don't go crazy?" I thought that I meet with it once or twice in english too. But now I did search in google and Corpus Of Contemporary American English and all I found is only one page titl... | Such titles are frequent in English, too, but they are phrased a little differently: How to X Without Ying For example (the first is a 1950s musical, the rest are from the first page of a Google Books search on ["how to" without]) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying How to Succeed in School Without Really ... | Is it typical to say "How to get rich and don't go crazy"? | english |
Which is correct: pass-through or passthrough or pass through ? I googled to find the correct wording, but found the 3 and not sure at all what is the correct one and/or there is a some domain specific rules. I want to describe a process in which an information goes from input to output without any change. | Without anymore context it's hard to tell exactly what you need. I would avoid using PassThrough unless you're actually using the Point Cloud Library's PassThrough filter, as it may get confusing. If you're talking about actual filters I would use Pass-Through . Most signal processing filters are hyphenated(Low-Pass, H... | Which is correct: 'pass-through' or 'passthrough' or 'pass through'? | english |
He was hoist with his own petard is one of my father's favorite phrases. As a child I had developed a vague understanding of the idiom in which petard was a kind of flag, which is why it was hoist , and being hoist by your own was an unpleasant fate bringing to mind captains being hung from their own ship's mast. I now... | Hoist is the past participle of the now-obsolete verb hoise . Hoise simply meant "to raise with effort or exertion". Today the verb hoist implies the use of ropes and some control, but that wasn't necessarily the case in Shakespeare's day. However, OED gives hoist with his own petard its own entry, which does indicate ... | Why "hoist" in "Hoist with one's own petard"? | english |
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