Wordwizard

While on the subject of alternative spellings for chemical elements, Wikipedia has the following to say about 'aluminium' versus 'aluminum': "In the English-speaking world, the spellings (and associated pronunciations) aluminium and aluminum are both in common use in both scientific and nonscientifi...

We are living in permissive times. In the 1920s, Nanette was a no-no.

But it would probably fit over a classic English detective novel.

That all depends on the point of view. I can think of quite a few teachers who might have benefited from being subjected to it.

Edwin's excellent summary of the situation will prove invaluable to generations of learners of business English.

If my teachers had only been that wise, I should not be here now.

Some worm-eaten fogeys apparently think it's unseemly for Les Dawson to create the torrent of mother-in-law jokes that is the mainstay of his spare-time career as a comic out of the endless material he gets from penning the pseudonymous replies in his 'Dear Abby' advice column. Which only goes to sh...

A British cozy is just the thing to slip over a pot of Cornish cream tea.

Some people are well matched with their baggage.

The requirement to spell 'sulphur' 'sulfur' is a consequence of an orthographic change on the part of the international body responsible for deciding such matters. According to Wikipedia: "The element has traditionally been spelled sulphur in the United Kingdom, India, and New Zealand, but sulfur in...

Russ, of course your basic point is right. However, one of the nurses' important tasks is to monitor the condition of the patient, and effective communication with the patient, it seems to me, cannot be regarded as separate from that duty. The failure of the patient in the newspaper story to survive...

Baggage, it seems to me, is luggage in transit.

Podictionary, I suspect Phil may be drawing attention to the distinction between 'dialectal' ('pertaining to dialects') and 'dialectical' ('pertaining to logical argumentation'). On the other hand, my Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary states that 'dialectical' can also be used in the sam...

If I were being uncharitable, I would say that 'bullshit logic' is one of the most succinct terms for the newspaper paragraph's presentation of a specious assertion that conflicts with the basic facts described in the article. (You could also call it 'faulty logic' or 'illogicality' if you insist on...

4b may be somewhat arcane, but not to an extreme extent. "I think about myself as a blues guitarist" could legitimately express the musings of a musician who is trying to decide where he belongs stylistically amid all the other blues guitarists he knows of, as a prelude to a statement like "I feel I...

Try 'rush to judg(e)ment', 'put two and two together and make five', 'have/give/produce a knee-jerk/gut/automatic/instinctive/spontaneous/reflex/Pavlovian reaction/response', 'rush to conclusions', 'react automatically', 'take for granted', 'rely on supposition', 'hazard a guess', 'conjecture', 'hav...