Wordwizard

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.

"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...

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.

Thank you. It's a very nice-looking "who".

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.

In this context, "We" = "Probably everyone who didn't grow up speaking German".

"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...

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.

?

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...

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.

trolley wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 3:21 am If you really want to be sure there is no misunderstanding...try "Get the fuck out of my way"

I like your Gordian knot-slashing style.

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!

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.

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.

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...

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.

Enjoy your delusions, Phil.