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This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
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Latest Posts : Coinage
I’ve been listening to Van Morrison’s “Friday’s Child” for quite some time now because I love this song so much. I tried to look up the meaning of ” Friday’s Child” but onbly found a reference to an old rhyme. Can anybody tell me the meaning of the saying “Friday’s Child” and when and why it is used? Many thanks.
Am I alone in despairing when I hear phrases like:
- “We played brilliant.”
- “He did it wrong.” (or more commonly “He done it wrong.”)
- “He behaved stupid.”
Some people think that there is a difference in meaning between “in that regard” and “in that respect”, some believe that a lot of phrases using “regard” or “regards” are in fact making inappropriate use of the word, and of course some think there is nothing wrong with such usage.
Does anyone else think that the phrase “In that regard” is overused and misused?
Is there any defense of capitalizing after a semicolon? This reads well to me:
We do not sell tricycles; We sell velocipedes.
Learn the difference.
Not capitalizing the first word of the second clause diminishes the perceived parallelism:
We do not sell tricycles; we sell velocipedes.
The store around the corner sells bicycles.
With a period between them, the first two clauses read like the premises of a syllogism:
We do not sell tricycles. We sell velocipedes.
Do we sell unicycles?
I will continue, of course, to pen as I please, but, in this instance, wonder if I can confidently publish as I please.
Is separating two coordinating-conjunction-linked sentences, the former having a comma(s), with a semicolon instead of a comma logically justified?
In GrammarBook.com’s Semicolons category, Rule 5. reads:
Use the semicolon between two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction when one or more commas appear in the first sentence.
Examples: When I finish here, I will be glad to help you; and that is a promise I will keep.
If she can, she will attempt that feat; and if her husband is able, he will be there to see her.
The AP Stylebook today announced that electronic mail is now spelled without a hyphen: email. Finally. I personally haven’t used “e-mail” in about a decade. We have a thread here on this topic of how to properly spell email.
http://painintheenglish.com/case/4463
At the time, I commented that it may take another 10 years for this to settle, but it took less than a year!
How does one know exactly when a word is supposed to end with -“ise” vs -“ize” in Oxford spelling?
Onamography is a writing technique that involves creatively incorporating proper nouns (company names, celebrities, etc.) in regular English sentences.
A few examples to clarify the concept:
Onnicle 1: The man at the bar acknowledged that he found the job amateurish. Onnicle 2: The SMS said..Bob ill. The rag ate sick shellfish!
The first sentence has ‘Barack Obama’ embedded in it and the second one has Bill Gates. The concept can be extended to include multiple names in a paragraph.
I’ve been trying to find out if there is already a technical name in English to describe it. Onamography is a coined word (Greek origin: onuma --> name, graphe --> writing) as I couldn’t find anything else that comes close to describing the concept.
Any inputs?
Have you noticed that, at trendy cafes, more than half of the laptop computers you see are the new MacBooks? (Well, at least in New York City.) I don’t mean any MacBook; I’m talking about the latest MacBook (”the brick”). In fact, I believe seeing the older versions of MacBooks is rarer than seeing PC laptops.
If these people are deciding to work at cafes for practical reasons, then the laptop demographic should be much more diverse, with a lot more PCs and older versions of MacBook, but this is not what I see. The demographic is heavily skewed towards the latest models of MacBook. So, I would have to conclude that the reason why these MacBook owners come out to cafes is because they want to show off their brand new MacBooks.
It would makes sense, therefore, to coin a term for showing off your MacBook at a cafe. I’ve struggled with this for a while, and this morning, I decided that it should be “Mac off”.
“Hey, honey. I’m gonna go Mac off at the Starbucks for a few hours, OK?”
“At a cafe in Williamsburg, I saw about a dozen people sitting in a row Mac’ing off.”
“I bought the new MacBook Pro last week, but I haven’t Mac’ed off yet.”
If you have a kid and a stroller, I’m sure you’ve experienced this many times. You hang a lot of stuff from the handle of the stroller, and when the kid jumps out of it, the whole thing topples over.
One of my friends wants a word for this (a verb). I tried to think of one, but I couldn’t come up with a good one. (”Stropple”, for instance, isn’t so good because the sound of it lacks the impact of the actual event.) Can anyone think of one?
Latest Comments
Treatment of abbreviations and superscript items in full capital case
- kimmorgan
- April 16, 2024, 8:37am
good job
I would argue that "and yet" implies a degree of disdain or contempt.
You hold to xyz yet the scientific consensus is abc. (Stating a fact about one opinion vs the scientific consensus).
You hold to xyz and yet the scientific consensus is abc. (You moron vs the scientific consensus).
The phrase "try and" is commonly used in informal speech, and while it is technically grammatically correct, some style guides prefer "try to" for formal writing. Both "try and" and "try to" convey the idea of attempting to do something, but there is a subtle difference in emphasis.
"Try and" suggests an intention to make an effort towards a goal, with less certainty about the outcome. It implies that the action may or may not be successful.
"I'm going to try to stop him" emphasizes the intention to make an effort towards stopping him, with a slightly stronger sense of determination. It implies a clearer intention to achieve the goal, although success is not guaranteed.
In everyday conversation and informal writing, both "try and" and "try to" are acceptable, and the choice between them often comes down to personal preference or the specific context of the sentence. However, in more formal writing or when precision is important, "try to" may be preferred for clarity and emphasis.
Is “painstaking” pronounced the same in Britain as here, as “pain-staking”?
- user116289
- April 8, 2024, 6:13am
Thanks for a wonderful share. Here is the great example related to you blog.
Eddie Murphy Jacket
my same school
- user116187
- April 6, 2024, 11:07am
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Might could
- emzy
- March 27, 2024, 4:18pm
"Might could" is part of my regional dialect.
As a response to "are you going to do it" I would respond "might could" or "I might could." The beginning of the originally listed response, "I'm not sure," isn't necessary because "might could" implies uncertainty about the speakers involvement.
I like another comment on here where "might could" is expanded to "it might be the case that I could." This is how I've understood and used the phrase.
gifting vs. giving a gift
- mgformechanic
- March 26, 2024, 4:48pm
- Fewer rather than less for numbered objects:
less sand, but fewer grains of sand
- Confusing out of the box with outside the box
- Similar to; different from
Why am I seeing different to?
Can a singular noun represent a plural non-collective noun?
When considering whether a singular noun can adequately represent a plural non-collective noun, it's essential to delve into the nuances of language and context. While it may seem straightforward, language often operates in shades of ambiguity and flexibility. In certain instances, a singular noun can indeed encapsulate the essence of a plural non-collective noun, depending on the context and the speaker's intention. For example, "the committee" may refer to a group of individuals collectively making decisions, even though "committee" itself is singular. However, this representation isn't always seamless and can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. Exploring these intricacies enriches our understanding of language usage and communication dynamics. For more insights on linguistic topics, you can check out https://writepaper.com/write-my-discussion-post, where various perspectives and analyses are shared.