Wordwizard

I can't think of anything specific for such words, although, as Tony has pointed out, some have perfectly plausible etymology, such as "pineapple". There are words that mean the opposite of what they mean (yes, this does make sense), and these are called "auto-antonyms" (such as "fast", which can me...

Thanks for that, Erik

Audi Yadoo

... It just decided to travel by Southern Rail and may be delayed for a few years.

I have this dreadful vision of going into MacDonald's and being asked "do you want a side chick with that?"

Bob is right.

Generally we would avoid constructions such as those.

In spoken English you will often hear "he went out so as not to see ..."

In written English, I would go for something like "to avoid seeing".

1 is fine. Native speakers would understand it exactly the way you intend.

Pyjamas (UK) Pajamas (US) (Tony: The image — https://cbu01.alicdn.com/img/ibank/2016/780/538/3652835087_720563842.400x400.jpg — was visible yesterday. It's very odd that today it isn't being displayed in the Wordwizard embedded format.) The image will only display if the site it is stored on is ava...

The versions with negative pronouns seem to me to indicate even greater surprise, urgency or desperation than the negated versions, which are already similarly loaded compared with their positive counterparts. Is anybody in the house? (neutral) Isn't anybody in the house? (mild surprise) Is nobody i...

That is truly painful, Bob!

The perceived ambiguity is only there in writing. If you stress "most", it is meaning 1. If you stress "don't", it is meaning 2. In writing, the ambiguity is only resolved by context. Having said that, meaning 2 only really arises in the context of someone having claimed that I would remember most o...

tony h wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 03, 2018 10:21 am

Oh you credit me with more imagination than I possess.

No, merely more than you imagine...

Hmmm, Here is one discussion: http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8426 The early part of the discussion covers a lot of ground. But, as all of our discussions in those days, it meandered off topic on the last couple of pages... And here is a comment from the original Wordwizard hims...

I am certain we have talked about exactly this subject before, but I can't find the thread. As far as I am concerned, if you use the singular for any unit of measurement, you can use it for all of them. I would not bat an eyelid at "five kilometre down the road" or "three quart of ale". Whether I wo...