Search found 8472 matches
- Fri Dec 11, 2020 3:12 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Mattress
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1428
Re: Mattress
I think that could be described as a tatami mattress, although it's not made from straw, which is one of the traditional materials used for making tatami mats.
- Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:25 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Darn
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1982
Re: Darn
"Darn" (or its variant "darned") is very mild, and in many US contexts it would come across as a ruralism or as a somewhat old-fashioned intensifier. I think it's safe to use it with pretty much anyone. Nowadays, the intensifier "damn" (or "damned") would usually not be regarded as objectionable exc...
- Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:05 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: whose book's cover
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2711
Re: whose book's cover
Thank you. It's a very nice-looking "who".Phil White wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 7:23 pm Sorry, I just realize that I missed a "who" out of my sample sentence. Here it is: who.
- Wed Dec 09, 2020 6:38 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: whose book's cover
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2711
Re: whose book's cover
In this context, "We" = "Probably everyone who didn't grow up speaking German".Phil White wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 5:19 pm"The kid whose aunt knitted him the red pullover's dog bit his friend who gave him the bicycle's arm is confused."
Don't go there. We don't think like that.
- Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:47 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: That idea
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1443
Re: That idea
"What gives you that idea?" is typically a formulation used to express either vehemence or sarcasm/irony (for example, if the speaker was clutching a grab handle so tightly that their knuckles had gone white, revealing their level of fear). "What makes you think so?" is more neutral in terms of conv...
- Tue Dec 01, 2020 5:23 pm
- Forum: No, wait. Don't tell me
- Topic: Tea Time
- Replies: 6
- Views: 2125
Re: Tea Time
?Bobinwales wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:00 pm A bloke in the pub told me that his friend is a property developer, he absolutely refuses to use teabags.
- Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:59 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: but we didn't know
- Replies: 6
- Views: 2431
Re: but we didn't know
They are all passable in speech, but they are also pretty awkward-sounding and clumsily worded. I would replace your first pair, a) and b), with: Among the writers at the party was one who had written an unknown number of books. I would replace the second pair with: Among the writers at the party wa...
- Sat Nov 28, 2020 3:43 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: A blast
- Replies: 2
- Views: 2214
Re: A blast
To my mind, 2) sounds perfunctory -- it's a very socially conventional exhortation. 1) sounds much more as if the person speaking it really means it.
- Sat Nov 28, 2020 7:20 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: not letting
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2793
- Fri Nov 27, 2020 4:27 pm
- Forum: No, wait. Don't tell me
- Topic: Why old men don't get hired
- Replies: 1
- Views: 2654
Why old men don't get hired
Interviewer: What would you say is your worst quality?
Old man: I’m too honest.
Interviewer: I hardly think that’s a bad quality.
Old man: I don’t give a fuck what you think!
Old man: I’m too honest.
Interviewer: I hardly think that’s a bad quality.
Old man: I don’t give a fuck what you think!
- Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:59 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: in their own way
- Replies: 1
- Views: 2529
Re: in their own way
Only b) sounds natural to me, though it would not surprise me if I heard c).
a) is grammatically correct, but it makes the speaker sound long-winded and pedantic.
a) is grammatically correct, but it makes the speaker sound long-winded and pedantic.
- Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:52 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Wrong side of the oven
- Replies: 2
- Views: 2548
Re: Wrong side of the oven
There's a common idiom, "to {wake up on / get out of} the wrong side of the bed", meaning "to be in a bad mood". Person D has just adapted it for the context of this discussion.
I can understand what they're getting at, but I don't think this latest twist on the idiom is likely to become widespread.
I can understand what they're getting at, but I don't think this latest twist on the idiom is likely to become widespread.
- Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:11 am
- Forum: No, wait. Don't tell me
- Topic: NO!!
- Replies: 0
- Views: 2061
NO!!
An aerospace engineer explains the future airliner cockpit concept to an airline pilot: "So, the cockpit in our next-generation airliners will have a computer, a dog and one of you guys. The computer will fly the plane, and you'll monitor the computer." "And what's the dog for?" "Making sure you don...
- Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:15 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: Old news
- Replies: 0
- Views: 2740
Old news
I've just heard the BBC reporter Danny Vincent speaking of the "strong weakening of the activists" in the context of the opposition in Hong Kong to the efforts by the government of mainland China to tighten their control over the territory.
- Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:52 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings Archive
- Topic: hospital corners
- Replies: 18
- Views: 5827
Re: hospital corners
Enjoy your delusions, Phil. 
