Wordwizard

Without going too deeply into the topic, I thought frigging was a euphemism for female masturbation.

This is interesting, because Dystopic does have a meaning in medicine. It is something that is in the wrong place as well being better knownas a sort of negative image of Utopia. But, in exactly the same way that we talk of a Utopian society, I can personally see no reason whatsoever not to speak of...

Many thanks both. Ken's post summed up my confusion a treat.

Good name for a band though, except it could sound like the vehicle that the Brothers Gibb used to travel to gigs. Bee Gee Bus.

Please get me out of a mental block. If you were to parse the sentence “He flew to London by aeroplane”, what is "by"?

I would agree with Fowler's last sentence.

I brought up my children, I would probably not use either of the two other options, although I would not queston their use by someone else.

We have long grass over here, and when I was younger I had lots of fun I had in it I vaguely remember.

I had a trip to the Supermarket today, not a single Brussel, all sprouts were Brussels.

And there was me thinking that “crud” meant uselessly horrid.

"You're welcome", is obviously a contraction of "You are welcome", which could be substituted for "It's a pleasure", "Don't mention it", "Not a problem" etc.

The word itself is pretty ancient, meaning, I'm pretty certain, that it is a pleasure to see someone arrive.

Bozo, I'm still with you. Chaucer couldn't spell anyway! I must say the rest of the evidence seems convincing though.

Personally, I'm a "whet" man, and I think you are right, you want to sharpen your whistle, not drown it.

Thank you Ross, your post answered a lot of questions that were in my mind. I can well understand the sense of identity that tribal names can give. Just let anyone try calling me English if you want to see a portly middle-aged gentleman blow his top.

Regrettably, some of us can only let hair down figuratively.
But I can still remember the Sixties; I was a musician then and could really let my hair down.
(Exit stage left, sobbing).

So children don't have to play "Bovine persons and Native Americans" instead of "Cowboys and Indians" then?