Wordwizard

Thanks, Trolley, for the response. I'm virtually certain this relates to slavery. Lackey is a pejorative phrase for a manservant. That's what slaves used to be called: "You my lackey." Calling someone a lackey in the South is still an insult (I'm a Southerner many generations over - 1700s). Lackey/l...

Oh. Forgot to add: some websites tried to tag it to some dubious permutation of a supposed Native American word. My intuition tells me that's an anticipatory straw man defense...

Okay, you guys have diligently and thoughtfully answered every question I've ever posted, so here's a new one. This is American slang-based. Today on Twitter somebody did a promoted tweet for a business named Cackalacky. The hairs on the back of my neck went up! My understanding is this is a racist ...

Awesome work, Tony and Trolley! You knew how to find the facts behind my intuitive hunch. 👊 Sorry it's taking me a year to come back to this. I don't get notices, I guess, when replies are posted? I came back because I have a new one for you superslueths, but I'll post in a new thread. 😉 I always ha...

Yes! Thanks, Erik. Both you and Ken have given me most excellent answers in the past. Muchas gracias!

A only (and literally as written) means 2. If you want to try to attribute the meanings of 1 or 3 to it, you can only do so by assuming that the writer doesn't know correct grammar or is, at the east, a sloppy writer. You find this sort of sloppy drafting often times in legal contracts and in journa...

In neither B nor C does the wording fairly imply that export is the exclusive disposition of the fruit. You'd have to add the limiting word only, exclusively, solely or some such.

Thanks Bob n Erik! My point is that I think this quote is much older and, thus, is attributable to somebody other than W. Clement Stone - rather than trying to pin down which one of his writings contained it. Not doubting that the man made a ton of money, but it seems too profound for an insurance s...

It means 1.

If you want to say something similar and have meaning 2, I would suggest:

What he said then (or - at that time) made me happier than at any other time (or - in our entire life together).

We stopped at, "Liar liar pants on fire!" No reference to telephone lines, telegraph wires or William Blake. And, I imagine it was an Americanism. If I were to guess the origin of "pants on fire" as associated with lying, it probably relates to the idea of burning and catching on fire in hell. Lying...

An alti cases come of the more clear punctuation to the meaning you're seeking is the 2nd use with the,. However, both all 3 examples you gave are somewhat awkwardly worded. If you want the most clear wording for your intended meaning, and you're not worried about the comna use, then I would suggest...

You could used 1 or 2 interchangeably. Agree with you that 3 has the altered meaning you suggest.Also think the same problem exists with 3A as with 3. There I would say, "Well, having many friends..."

Hello hello! I haven't been on here in 2 years, and I'm so happy to have found the sight again (took some sleuthing)and see that some of the people who have given really good answers in the past are still active. I wanna see what you guys can find or know about the origin of the phrase (or permutati...

Howdy all- I have not made an appearance on this site in over 10 years and, in fact, I had to re-register. :/ I found my screen name by searching and saw that I had been much maligned in a posting about the phrase "bum steer" which is archived and to which I apparently can not respond nor defend my ...