Wordwizard

Just back from another jaunt to the SW, Erik. It was too cloudy to see you as we flew over. The back has almost recovered from the jolts on a beautifully scenic railroad that shall remain nameless. There were UK and US citizens on the coach or bus as some called it, and we had some amusing discussio...

When is a T-junction not a T-junction?

Yes, it's a rare piece of language where the referent doesn't change, but the correct term (in the UK, at least) does depending on how you (physically or notionally) approach it. A deictic noun.

If one may segue to the fishing line. The likeable and knowledgeable tour guide / driver on our recent coach tour of Ireland mentioned the 'salmon of knowledge' early on in the tour, and said that he would tell us the story later. After six days (I think he was waiting, hoping that someone would fee...

The Australian interrobang must be interesting. Not to mention uninverted commas.

Obviously, somebody is required who can inject some sanity into proceedings here.

Sadly, Catherine says she's too busy.

Obviously not as good as Hermione with spells.

Why am I imagining a man in a fez?

I've been toying with yellow birds is to other birds as slowly stopped is to never stopped . (??) Determiners, specifying the 'reference of the noun or noun phrase in the context' [Wikipedia] rather than further specifying attributes, are considered a different word class from adjectives nowadays. I...

This is not made easier by the fact that 'hard' in 'He stared hard at her for several seconds' is definitely a (flat) adverb, while 'hard' in 'a hard boiled egg' is adjectival, describing the resultative state of the egg rather than the manner of boiling (contrast a gently boiled egg). Also, the boi...

@WoZ Some Brits might think your 'it' is referring to a kangaroo you want tying. Sport.

Yes, context argues against the metaphorical sense of 'sort out'. 'Leave someone be' is almost archaic now. It's almost a separable transitive multi-word verb of the verb + verb variety. 'Make do" is an intransitive V + V MWV, and 'let go' a separable transitive (or intransitive) V + V MWV. Perhaps ...

I'm not sure whether I want to find a British politician I can use it on or not.

Yes, may your daffodils and leeks be bigger and better than ever.

trolley wrote:Today, at work, one of my workers complained that I had "raped him over the coals". I feel horrible. I can't imagine how painful that must have been for him.

Sounds like gratuitous sacks.

I always thought it had something to do with the fact that shirts in England when I was young had only three buttons at the top and blouses had buttons all the way down. Men's shirts on the continent had buttons all the way down and these were known as big girl's blouses That's fascinating, makes s...