Search found 8468 matches
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:44 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Genre or Register?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 22822
Genre or Register?
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...
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:39 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: no entry
- Replies: 23
- Views: 10344
no entry
We are living in permissive times. In the 1920s, Nanette was a no-no.
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:33 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: cream teas
- Replies: 19
- Views: 7043
cream teas
But it would probably fit over a classic English detective novel.
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:30 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: luggage and baggage
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4364
luggage and baggage
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.
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:25 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: luggage and baggage
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4364
luggage and baggage
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.
If my teachers had only been that wise, I should not be here now.
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:53 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Thanking my inlaws
- Replies: 7
- Views: 37455
Thanking my inlaws
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...
- Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:25 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: cream teas
- Replies: 19
- Views: 7043
cream teas
A British cozy is just the thing to slip over a pot of Cornish cream tea.
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:51 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: luggage and baggage
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4364
luggage and baggage
Some people are well matched with their baggage.
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:49 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Genre or Register?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 22822
Genre or Register?
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...
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:12 pm
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: Not enough English?
- Replies: 18
- Views: 7979
Not enough English?
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...
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:06 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: luggage and baggage
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4364
luggage and baggage
Baggage, it seems to me, is luggage in transit.
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:14 pm
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: A Blegburn Dickshonary
- Replies: 7
- Views: 4672
A Blegburn Dickshonary
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...
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:24 am
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: Not enough English?
- Replies: 18
- Views: 7979
Not enough English?
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...
- Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:11 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: think of and think about
- Replies: 3
- Views: 3400
think of and think about
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...
- Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:22 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: jump to conclusions
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1878
jump to conclusions
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...