Wordwizard

My father used to talk about something or someone being "a fur piece down the road." I would reply with "Really? Was the 'fur piece' a mink or a sable?" He would just give me a confused look, and it never did sink in enough for him to correct his pronunciation. As far as "recognize" being pronounced...

Harry, there may not be a Monkey Race or a Cow Race, but I can assure you, the Rat Race is still very much alive and kicking!

WOz, you wouldn't say a cat has nine lives and use the short "I" sound, would you? To me, the hyphenated- lived (whether it be "long-," "short-," or "nine-") sounds more like it refers to the length (or number) of the LIFE (long "I"), so it should also have the long "I" sound. "My ancestors all had ...

What does a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do? Lies awake all night wondering if there is a Dog!

My dictionary lists the first pronunciation as rhyming "lived" with "dived" (long "I"), but it also lists a second pronunciation in which "lived" rhymes with "sieved" (short "I"), as Bob stated. I have actually heard it (and pronounced it) both ways, but the long "I" version always sounds stilted to...

If someone can grasp the difference between I/me or we/us without needing intensive coaching . . . Erik, you're obviously giving more credit to people's "grasp" of this difference than I do. I can't begin to count the number of times I hear something along the lines of "they went with Sally and I" ...

66. No matter what distant galaxy the alien beings are from, they will always speak fluent English. 67. These alien beings will have learned English from listening to our radio broadcasts (presumably the ones simulcast in English and the aliens' native language?). 68. All communications, even from t...

37. When you suddenly burst into song over a seemingly trivial matter, not only will no one stare at you, but most of them will join in the song with you (and know all the words)! 38. No matter how long you stare at the telephone while it continues to ring, the person on the other end never hangs up...

Maybe that should have been QUIET(ly) competent.

Yes, Phil, that was quite competent!

Ken, I would assume that the "in-between numbers" of which you speak would be named the same as the smaller "in-between numbers." For example, a one followed by 7 zeros is 10,000,000 or ten million. As in your example, you subtract 3, leaving you with 4. Divide that by three, and you get 1 1/3. Drop...

They served beer at your middle school, Slateman? Must have been a very progressive middle school.

Dave (or is it da-VERB-a?): That's exactly the point. Mr. Cantor's answer would have to match someone else's (unless he shook hands with the doorman). But, when you pair up the numbers, you find that the couples are 8 & 0, 7 & 1, 6 & 2, 5 & 3, and 4 & 4. The only number that can be repeated is 4; th...

I had tried diagramming this out, by using A and A' (A-Prime) for one couple, B and B' for the next, etc. I drew lines from each person to the person(s) whose hands he/she shook. I quickly realized that the one who shook 8 hands had to be married to the one who shook zero hands, but it didn't occur ...

If Mr. Cantor asks all the others present (the remaining nine, including his wife) and gets a different (true) answer from each person , that means that the remaining nine people gave the answers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. I don't think that's possible, but I can't figure out how to prove or dis...