Drew

general recent conversations

Discussion on question by Ricky: Is t…

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Drew

Oct 19, 2024 00:37

B's question is a question, so it can't be a fallacy - that tag doesn't really apply here.

Discussion on question by Joshua: Why…

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Drew

Jan 20, 2019 19:19

(Seems like this question must be a duplicate...)

Discussion on question by Mari-Lou A:…

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Drew

Aug 28, 2018 15:34

@CandiedOrange: Yes, s-p-i-t-n is a name for the cause, not the what-might-have-been.

Drew

Aug 28, 2018 15:34

Ships passing in the night?

Discussion on question by PC Luddite:…

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Drew

Aug 21, 2018 13:00

Someone who prefers homeopathy is, ahem, "diluted" (a zillion times over). ;-)

Discussion on question by Kris: Can s…

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Drew

Jul 18, 2018 22:35

@Kris: Ah, right. Read it too quickly.

Drew

Jul 18, 2018 22:35

@HotLicks: It was a partly tongue-in-cheek, other part wild guess about the connection.

Drew

Jul 18, 2018 22:35

@HotLicks: Yeah, but that's a recent abuse of the language, no? A funder who pays enough can now get to be called a founder. My guess is that this, like the phenomenon of adorning park benches, stadiums, and such with names or plaques venerating financial donors, took off in the 1980s in the US.

Discussion on question by yoann-h: Sh…

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Drew

Jun 29, 2018 22:01

The "eye-glassed", the "bespectacled".

Discussion on question by oconnor0: W…

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Drew

Aug 17, 2017 17:04

divulge, spill the beans, cough up, snitch, squeal, squeak, rat, disclose, reveal

Discussion on question by StandardEyr…

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Drew

Aug 12, 2017 19:27

silliarchy, clownocracy, gigglarchy

Discussion on question by Ariel: Mean…

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Drew

Jul 9, 2017 17:07

What diid the dictionary tell you about bully? Did it tell you what @Laurel replied? (And this is in 2017.)

Discussion on question by marcellothe…

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Drew

Jul 6, 2017 01:40

To get better answers for a question, you can try leaving comments to the question or some answers that might be related/relevant. I don't know if there is another way. But lack of answers that you consider satisfactory is not a reason to post a duplicate question in hopes of getting an answer that you prefer.

Drew

Jul 6, 2017 01:40

The depth that you are referring to is the depth of the answers. The question is a duplicate. You can try to get better answers for that question, if you like.

Drew

Jul 6, 2017 01:40

Too many questions in one question, which makes the question unclear.

Drew

Jul 6, 2017 01:40

Possible duplicate of How do I ensure "since" takes the meaning I want?

Drew

Jul 6, 2017 01:40

Whether a question is a duplicate does not depend on how good the existing answers might be for the original question.

Discussion on question by Matt Samuel…

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Drew

Jun 18, 2017 14:54

What's really dangerous in the Br/Am mix is crossing the street as a pedestrian, especially jaywalking. Fortunately, in some places in Britain they have very considerately painted LOOK RIGHT on sidewalk/pavement, for Continentals, Yanks, and others who might naturally look left for traffic. Unfortunately for Brits, we don't reciprocate by providing LOOK LEFT warnings in the US.

Discussion on question by the other o…

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Drew

Jun 17, 2017 20:52

What @deadrat said. Had you said "Everyone thinks..." (or says or does), do you think someone might ask why you make the claim about "everyone"? That's all that's involved here -- même combat. And I doubt that there is a difference between Brits and Yanks over this. You can make such a statement, and people can take it either as just a general statement (even if hyperbolic), or they can react by questioning how true it is of "everyone".

Discussion on question by Daniele B: …

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Drew

Jun 12, 2017 14:45

IMO, you are a software engineer. I'm guessing that "ingegneria informatica" is what is called génie logiciel in French, and which is software engineering in English. Of course, if Wikipedia says that it is "computer engineering", who am I to suggest something different?

Discussion on question by Yoichi Oish…

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Drew

Jun 3, 2017 14:30

It means "I got you to look at me! Neah neah na neah neah!" aka "Tu m'as vu !"

Discussion on question by Mari-Lou A:…

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Drew

May 28, 2017 22:18

Too many questions. One per post, please. And I agree with @HotLicks that what you are asking is not very clear.

Discussion on question by user1993: "…

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Drew

May 21, 2017 03:26

idea, hypothesis, dream

Drew

May 21, 2017 03:26

Doesn't the dictionary give you more than one meaning of theory? Are you sure there isn't a (very commonly used) meaning that fits "I have a theory about..." perfectly? Why do you think that it should not be used that way?

Discussion on question by Sushila: Wh…

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Drew

Apr 17, 2017 03:24

@BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft: Done.

Drew

Apr 17, 2017 03:24

settle down, pipe down, calm down, shut up and color

Discussion on question by Émelie: Non…

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Drew

Mar 22, 2017 01:27

merdier.......

Discussion on question by GoatsWearHa…

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Drew

Mar 15, 2017 13:09

Understood by whom? Define "okay to use".

Discussion on question by Andrew Grim…

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Drew

Mar 13, 2017 00:27

@EdwinAshworth: Other nations have not "borrowed" English, any more than has the nation of the United Kingdom borrowed it. No English-speaking nation has borrowed English. Modern BrE English is as different from 16th-century London English as is modern AmE or AustralianE or IndianE or... BrE has just evolved differently - it is not something that has remained constant and was borrowed by others.

Drew

Mar 13, 2017 00:27

@EdwinAshworth: There are also differences between the British system of communicating and English. English is much bigger than BrE, which is one (small but important) dialect.

Discussion on answer by Oldbag: How d…

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Drew

Mar 13, 2017 00:26

@LightnessRacesinOrbit: I never said you did. Please read what I said. I was not referring to you at all, but to those who sometimes do think that way. It is a fact that some do - no casting of aspersions. This is so, whether the former mother country is Britain, France, Holland, Spain, etc. You will find some there who really think that their dialect is the "real" or the "original" one. (And such an imperialist attitude is understandable, if unfortunate. It's a casualty of former empire/colonialism.)

Drew

Mar 13, 2017 00:26

@AndrewGrimm: All ex-colonies are related to their ex-mother country. The modern incarnation of what was that particular mother country is no longer a "mother" country, of course - its former colonies are all "former" (or are there still some official colonies left?). Hence the quote marks where I referred to the modern "mother country".

Drew

Mar 13, 2017 00:26

@LightnessRacesinOrbit: Not to mention that the "Imperial" system has itself evolved. In spite of the existence of official standardization for measures, this is similar to the different evolutions of English-language dialects on opposite sides of The Pond. Those in the "mother" country sometimes think that their way is the real way or the original way, with the other way being an offshoot. (A similar "imperial" attitude can be found in France wrt Québécois.) In fact, neither is the same today as their common root (which admittedly was in England). Relative isolation leads to differences.

Discussion on question by Miss Joey: …

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Drew

Feb 27, 2017 03:18

slough is two different words, one pronounced like slew and the other pronounced like sluff.

Discussion on question by Mari-Lou A:…

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Drew

Feb 12, 2017 15:26

Sorry, can't help. Never heard of it before.

Discussion on question by Pedro: Word…

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Drew

Feb 2, 2017 23:06

This is the phenomenon called the Pied Trumpeter effect. We will all end in the (rising) sea.

Drew

Feb 2, 2017 23:06

trump-tailing

Discussion on question by kim366: Is …

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Drew

Jan 25, 2017 17:52

@kim366: Yes. And a mouse-button click is typically multiple events. In Emacs, for example (for the first mouse button): event down-mouse-1 followed by event mouse-1.

Drew

Jan 25, 2017 17:52

Input event...

Discussion on question by user2840286…

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Drew

Jan 15, 2017 01:45

Find a noun that you think has the characteristic you're looking for, and tack on the suffix -like. If it feels like wood, wood-like, paper, paper-like, cloth, cloth-like,... Improve the description of the feeling. So far, you've mentioned fine sandpaper, and paperback-book paper.

Discussion on question by i squared -…

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Drew

Nov 14, 2016 08:06

The best resources for this are the most popular, social ones: mainstream TV, songs, and so on. The more popular, the better. The younger the intended audience, the better. And if you can turn on closed-captioning, so you can read some of what is being said, that can help too.

Discussion on question by sam: why am…

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Drew

Oct 21, 2016 23:27

Even if there are things that are unique about American vowel pronunciation wrt British, what makes you think they would contribute to popularity? If you have such a hypothesis, it's up to you to research it.

Drew

Oct 21, 2016 23:27

American imperialism. It replaced British imperialism around WWI. The answer to this question is essentially the same as the answer to the question of why English is so globally popular (today). I'm sure you can figure it out...

Discussion on question by BladorthinT…

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Drew

Oct 18, 2016 02:23

English? Try Wikipedia - see section History.

Drew

Oct 18, 2016 02:23

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it does not seem to be about English language and usage.

Discussion on question by G.Los: 'd i…

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Drew

Oct 15, 2016 01:21

With more context we might be able to say that the contraction is "unacceptable". But not with just the context given so far (an English test). With only that context, I don't see how such a judgment can be made, except as POB.

Drew

Oct 15, 2016 01:21

@EdwinAshworth: Clearly, at least since Chomsky's example, that sentence is both known and meaningful, representing the phenomenon you are referring to. But sure, you can substitute other words for a new example that might be meaningless with no accompanying context. Put in context, in a work of fiction perhaps, nearly any grammatical (and even some ungrammatical) sequence of words can have meaning. Neither ungrammatical nor uncommon implies nonsensical.

Drew

Oct 15, 2016 01:21

@EdwinAshworth: manager -> you, ngram. Whether that is meaningful, I don't know. And with "go".

Drew

Oct 15, 2016 01:21

@EdwinAshworth: Can you back up your claim that most would say that that sentence is "totally unacceptable in communication"? Are we now voting or polling to determine acceptability in communication? How are you measuring "most"? Just how are those "most" judging acceptability in communication (or doesn't that matter)?

Drew

Oct 15, 2016 01:21

@EdwinAshworth: "conventional"? What convention are you referring to? Who sets such a convention? (Google Ngrams?). It's grammatically correct, and it's commonly used in speech. How "acceptable" it might be in written English depends entirely on the context and on who is judging acceptability. I know of no "convention" that is involved here.