Wordwizard

I don't think that the difference comes from the quantitativity or qualitativity of the object reduced. I think that the difference comes more in the speaker's conceptualization of the meaning of either preposition. I looked up both "of" and "in" and each has a definition or context in which they wo...

Phil beat me to it! That's what I remebered fartknocker as meaning. Never anything else.

I like russ's changes for thought and bulkiness reasons, but I think he's lost some of the flow and nature of language. I'd suggest the following: He wants to please his wife by not gambling, instead he's taking her stargazing on the weekends up in the mountains. or if it must be singular "atop the ...

Hello Phil, it's great to be back in deed! The only reason I argue that "there" must be a pronoun is because it is the apparent subject, the thing that "is" and is redefined in the predicate nominative as "a cost". Really as I think about it though it could just be a "proword" holding the place wher...

Has anyone considered that perhaps the police found chickens or quails running about the scene?

Ok... now they all make so much more sense... I should have been saying the aloud with a British accent!

I'm assuming that you're asking in terms of traditional grammar. So, here goes! "Up" is an adverb because it's function is to modify the meaning of "wake" which is a verb "There" is usually an adverb but here it is holding the place of the subject which is named in the predicate nominative (the cost...

They all seem to have the same or very similar meanings to me. "What sort of person is John?" would strike me as having a somewhat negative connotation. "What's your opinion about (or 'of') John? could also be perceived as a negative comment or slightly more prying than the others. How do some of th...

Would someone across the pond please explain to this poor Yank? Tony and Bobinwales' posts seem extremely random to me.

Thanks Shelley ;-)

Your post jogged my memory to when I used to say "hey" to people and my mother would pop me on the back of my head and declare that "hay" was for horses.

I just skimmed the Wikipedia article, and admittedly I have been avoiding as much of the political media as I can while still being a responsible citizen. However, I have always been under the impression that a Battleground State is a state where the votes are close, regardless of which party the st...

Yes Phil, Dawkins did recycle Jaynes theory... I don't know if I buy into the entire theory but in his description of consciousness he pointed out the connection of sight and understanding and knowledge. That's really all the connection I was intending to draw. However, when it comes to religious la...

I don't think it's this phrase particularly. I think it's an idiomatic phrase or tendancy of speakers to use it in the absurd. I did a google search for your specific phrase to no avail, but I also remembered hearing my mother say a similar phrase that included cats and did google search for that on...

It's around the corner

It surrounds the corner

It's a rounded corner

A philanthropist?