Dyske
Joined: November 6, 2002
Number of comments posted: 100
Number of votes received: 176
I’m the administrator of this site.
Questions Submitted
Not just me who thinks... or Not just me who think... or Not just I who think... or Not just I who thinks...
There are two questions associated with this. The first one ...
“hack” in “hackathon”
The word “hack” has two distinct definitions. One means “to ...
It had impacts on...
Is it grammatically correct to say “It had impacts on...”? I...
Collins Dictionaries
The new website for Collins Dictionaries is pretty slick. I ...
LEGOs — Is the Plural form of LEGO incorrect?
On this page (#18), the writer says, rather authoritati...
Isn’t the word “feminism” itself gender-biased?
Google’s new application called Ngram Viewer lets you see ho...
It’s Official: email not e-mail
The AP Stylebook today announced that electronic mail is now...
Does “Who knows” need a question mark?
On the Web, the majority seems to think we need a question m...
Is Punctuation Part of “Mechanics”?
According to my research, punctuation is part of “mechanics”...
Word for Showing Off Your MacBook at Cafe — Mac off
Have you noticed that, at trendy cafes, more than half of th...
Word for Stroller Toppling Over
If you have a kid and a stroller, I’m sure you’ve experience...
Word for Twitter Whores?
Is there a word to describe a Twitter user who follows every...
Someone else’s
Is “someone else’s” grammatically correct? Every time I type...
Peter thins them out
This Japanese program claims that Peter Pan regularly killed...
One of the most...
In one of the discussions here, Brian W. tells me that the f...
Should the link include the quotes?
When you link something in a quote, should we include the do...
Effect vs. Affect
This is one of the most common errors people make, and I fre...
Why Don’t We Abolish Irregular Verbs and Nouns?
My 4-year old daughter haven’t learned about irregular verbs...
Announcement
One of our regular contributors, porsche, informed me that s...
First Husband or First Gentleman?
If Hillary Clinton is elected as the president of the US, wh...
Do’s and Don’t's
“Do’s and Don’t's” is a popular phrase, but the punctuation ...
What is this triangular symbol?
While waiting for the subway to arrive, I noticed this myste...
Don’t mind if I do
When we say, “Don’t mind if I do,” what is the subject we ar...
Ass
Why is the word “ass” considered a curse word in...
Materialism
The word “materialism” as used by the general pu...
Feeling concern
Several people I know felt that this use of “concern” was co...
Quarters
Why is the word “quarters”, to mean a place of r...
“The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English”
For some unknown reason, I’ve always aspired to coining a wo...
Paraphrase
In sentencing of the terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, Judge Leo...
First Generation vs. Second Generation
When speaking of American people with respect to immigration...
Life Savers 5 Flavor
The package of Life Savers says, “5 Flavor”. Shouldn’t it be...
We, I, or my wife had a baby?
As a father of a newborn, do I say: 1. We had a baby. 2. I h...
I’m home
“I am home.” Does “home” function here as a noun or an adver...
Tsunami
Why do English speakers use the Japanese word “Tsunami”, whe...
Murphy’s Law
I thought I’ve always used the expression “Murph...
Color of People
A friend of mine told me that “colored people” i...
Wiener Coffee
At a dinner last night, my friend at the table put a scoop o...
Silk and Silkworm
Silk is made from thread of silkworms. The fact that the wor...
There is no such a thing as...
I was under the impression that this is wrong, that you do n...
Identical
“The essence of this book and that book was identical.” “The...
The Flu and a Cold
Why does “flu” get “the”, while “cold” gets “a”? It appears ...
The Americans
When you say “Americans” to mean the American people, do you...
At least, at the least
“At least” and “at the least”, are they identical? Or, do th...
Shame on You!
This is not exactly a language thing but when you say “Shame...
Either Is or Am
Which one is correct? Either he or I am a fool. Either he or...
A Jew and Jews
While we are at this racial slur thing: I was told that “He ...
Chink
Webster defines “chink” as “narrow opening”. However in Cal...
Friends
“I’d like to be friends with you.” Why “friends”? It seems t...
Hyphen, N-dash, M-dash
What is the difference between a hyphen, an N-dash and an M-...
Spaces After Period
I know that you are supposed to put one space after a period...
Sweet and Savory
Once I used the term “savory” to mean the opposite of sweet,...
Shrewd
I use “shrewd” to mean smart but in a negative, cunning way....
Commodity
The word “commodity” seems to have contradictory meanings. I...
Dual Purpose or Dual Purposes?
“This knife has dual purpose.” Do I need to pluralize “purpo...
Couldn’t Care Less
A pet peeve of mine is people incorrectly using the expressi...
Someone told me that “email” does not have a plural form “em...
Sister Company
Why sister? Why not “brother company”?...
Ranks has or have
In the following sentence, which is correct: has or have. Th...
Trouble with Trouble
When is “trouble” a countable noun? In what context, would y...
War in/on/with Iraq
Every media organization had its pick. The implication for e...
There were/was an apple and an orange.
In New Yorker, I read: “There was a cold wind and an intermi...
Commas, Periods, and Quotation Marks
I know that commas and periods go inside quotation marks, bu...
The Reality
“The sun” gets the article “the,” because there is only one ...
20 Something
I was under the impression that “20 something” meant someone...
Value
What is the difference between: “It has a value.” and “It h...
ON the Lower East Side
The newspaper headlines read: “Dell Dude Arrested with Pot O...
Matching the tense
“I argued that McDonald’s is good for you.” Should it be: “I...
Taking sides
It seems odd that you say, “take sides”. Wouldn’t it make mo...
Decades
60′s, 70′s, 80′s, 90′s, and now what? 00′s? What do you call...
Sheep, Fish, and Cattle
Why do you think that these nouns resisted the temptation of...
Social vs. Societal
How do you properly distinguish them? In what context do you...
Perturb vs. Disturb
What is the difference? How would you use them differently?...
Fried Chicken
You can count chickens. 1 chicken, 2 chickens. But Once you ...
Neither is or neither are
“For this recepie, vodka or rum can be used, though neither ...
Down to the Wire
Where did the “wire” come from?...
In and of itself
What does “and of” add to this phrase? That is, what is the ...
Motives vs. Motivation
What is the difference between these two questions? “What is...
Over-the-counter
If over-the-counter drugs mean drugs that you can buy off th...
Five of Ten
If you say “five of ten” in the context of time, you mean 5 ...
Went to extremes
I would think that “went to the extreme” would be more natur...
Potboiler
How did this word come to mean “a usually inferior work of a...
hit a snag
What does this mean?...
“got the best of him”
I hear this expression every now and then, and I understand ...
Off His Rocker
What does this mean? And where did it come from?...
Gone to Seed
What does this mean? Where did it come from?...
Two Weeks Notice
There is a movie out called “Two Weeks Notice”. Shouldn’t th...
Emotionality
Some people say “emotionality” is not a word. It is in Webst...
a shit
“That’s such bull-shit.” Here you have no article; not “a bu...
Multi-disciplinary
When fine artists say their work is “multi-disciplinary”, wh...
lack of “a”
“a lack of” vs. “lack of” What is the difference?...
Letter A
When you refer to something that is labeled with letters, li...
Control
“I have a full control” Or “I have full control” Which is co...
Matching Numbers
“These computers come with a 40GB hard drive” Or “These comp...
A position followed by a company name
In Wired magazine: “Kinsella and AS&E chief technology offic...
Type
“Mercedes SL500. Acura NSX. BMW Z4. These types of cars are ...
Future
“In a future, we’ll have...” Why is “future” a countable nou...
A lot of water
Can I say “a lot of water”? Could “a lot of” be used for unc...
What is / What are
“These are not what is going to bring us happiness.” Or “The...
A Part of ...
“I am a part of the team” or “I am part of the team” Which i...
Past / Present
“At the lecture yesterday, only a few of them knew who I am....
Text, A Text, Texts
I wrote “Multiple pages of recipes from the book, each page ...
“A” News
For some reason I’ve always thought the word “news” had an a...
Where are the commas?
Every native speaker has a different opinion about where the...
Don’t you count money?
Now, when I think of counting, the first thing that comes to...
What Rhymes?
OK, I was talking to Roxy about rhyming, and she tells me th...
Recent Comments
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
While I agree with Warsaw Will, wouldn't it still be grammat...
on: Preferred forms
If they are grammatically correct, the rest is all about the...
on: -ic vs -ical
Some of those are not legitimate words, like "horrifical" an...
on: “Live local.” Is it a complete sentence?
I guess it's like "Think different." I don't have an answer ...
on: “hack” in “hackathon”
Thank you for that link. That is interesting. In the comment...
on: “hack” in “hackathon”
Interesting. My guess was that "unauthorized access" came be...
on: Does a lie have to have intent to deceive?
I would say intent is irrelevant for the definition of "lie"...
on: and so...
It is certainly not a grammatical issue; it's a stylistic is...
on: and so...
I have the same exact problem! If I write without paying con...
on: Over exaggeration
@Jesse the blob of Bromine I feel your response is beyond...
on: Accepted spellings, punctuation, and capitalization of email
See below for the new development on this topic: http://p...
on: Past Perfect vs. Past Tense
Yeah, I agree with you. I don't see anything that would just...
on: Past Perfect vs. Past Tense
I'm not sure if it's possible to evaluate this sentence alon...
on: cannot vs. can not
Well, my dictionary says both are fine. And, a lot of gramma...
on: Is there a gustative equivalent to the olfactory “malodour”?
I have to say, I love the way you phrased the question. You ...
on: Does “Who knows” need a question mark?
Speaking of the tone, let me provide another example that mi...
on: Does “Who knows” need a question mark?
Hi Steve, <blockquote>Otherwise, you’re saying that someo...
on: Accepted spellings, punctuation, and capitalization of email
"e-mail" was how the word started, because it was a short fo...
on: “she” vs “her”
Technically speaking, "Her and I traveled" is wrong. Each ha...
on: Proper label for an annual event that skipped a year
Personally, I would call it "6th". Skipping a year does not ...
on: why does english have capital letters?
At first I thought this was a silly question, but after rese...
on: mines
My 5 year old daughter used to say "mines". We thought it wa...
on: How do I write out .25% ?
Well, I think you could say "a quarter of a percent", but th...
on: Myriad / myriad of
Both should be correct. One is used as a noun, the other use...
on: Loose = Lose?
Yes, it is indeed annoying. I see it all the time, and many ...
on: Difference between a release and a waiver
I think this is a legal issue (which term should be used for...
on: 46 year old heated Caribbean debate
@porsche, It is interesting that just by adding or elimin...
on: 46 year old heated Caribbean debate
I would vote for "finds". When I searched the Web for "every...
on: a long sentence with the verb “demand”
I think this is just a bad sentence. Sometimes it's just bet...
on: Word for Twitter Whores?
@EGKG You are right. I see that someone has already coine...
on: As of
I don't think it's incorrect, but it sounds awkward to me be...
on: Effect vs. Affect
Brian, This deserves to be a post of its own. So, I'll cr...
on: Effect vs. Affect
Brian, What's wrong with "most"? In fact, I never underst...
on: “It is one of his girlfriends.”
Pretty funny. 1. He has many girlfriends, and the car bel...
on: Dashes when saying year-olds
Funny; I had the same exact problem just yesterday while wri...
on: Why Don’t We Abolish Irregular Verbs and Nouns?
Hi Porsche, I may have. Could you elaborate on that? Am I...
on: Why Don’t We Abolish Irregular Verbs and Nouns?
Actually, this shouldn't be so hard to do if the president o...
on: Acronyms, Abbreviations, and BBC News
Actually, I've been noticing the same thing. Never mind the ...
on: Green eyes
I've heard "green with envy", but not "green eyes" for that ...
on: Announcement
Oh, right. It's not easy to write anything for this site;...
on: What is this triangular symbol?
Hi Nadir, That would be very interesting if that were tru...
on: double negatives
If what is bothering you is the repetition, not the double n...
on: Don’t mind if I do
http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/stars/to...
on: Don’t mind if I do
It just occurred to me: If “Don’t mind if I do,&...
on: Don’t mind if I do
Also: If what is being omitted is indeed the "I", then wh...
on: Don’t mind if I do
Suppose I'm invited to a party where the host comes around t...
on: troops vs soldiers
This is quite interesting. “Troop” certainly sou...
on: Ass
Hi AO, I think we need to distinguish "curse" or "swear" ...
on: Ass
“It’s raining now.” In English, there is ...
on: Ass
In Japanese, it is not the use of specific words that determ...
on: Ass
Hi John, As I said, there are taboo words in Japanese, bu...
on: Ass
Technically speaking, it is true that all languages contain ...
on: Ass
I agree with you Dave, but my question is this: If the meani...
on: A “homely” home - would you want to live in it?
Webster says that they are essentially the same. (The defini...
on: How to ask a question?
What is being omitted, especially on message boards, is the ...
on: Impact as a noun
These are some examples of the use of "impact" as a noun cit...
on: Neologisms, altered or lost meanings, and lexical monsters
As requested, I added the preview page. I you see any issues...
on: First annual vs. second annual
A possible confusion arises because the second time the even...
on: Feeling concern
It is interesting that something that is grammatically corre...
on: Feeling concern
Hi Janet, Thank you for the clarification, but could you ...
on: Feeling concern
I guess my question comes down to whether it is correct by v...
on: Parentheses vs. Square Brackets
Usually parentheses are for ancillary thoughts whereas squar...
on: Interpreting “beyond that already extended”
I have a feeling that this is a case where the writer added ...
on: Using [sic]
This question is really funny to me, not because it is a sil...
on: Second and a half generation?
This is an interesting question that never occurred to me be...
on: “Writers Forum” or “Writers’ Forum”
At first, I thought this is an easy question to answer, but ...
on: Transcendence
I think his use is appropriate if he means a lawyer who has ...
on: What is the word for intentionally incorrect spelling?
Hi porsche, But if you do a search on Google for "nite" o...
on: What is the word for intentionally incorrect spelling?
I think the most popular ones are "Nite" for night and "Lite...
on: First Generation vs. Second Generation
The percentage of green card holders is a moot point, but th...
on: First Generation vs. Second Generation
OK, just to establish the fact that it IS ambiguous, here is...
on: First Generation vs. Second Generation
Hi Porsche, "Far more often, the parents aren't naturaliz...
on: First Generation vs. Second Generation
What does “first generation” imply? First generation of what...
on: We, I, or my wife had a baby?
Hi Speedwell, Yes, thank you. My wife did have a baby....
on: Life Savers 5 Flavor
Do you see the link for candystand.com? It's right underneat...
on: Life Savers 5 Flavor
Hi Dave, You can see the package by clicking on the first...
on: you all
The word "you" has no plural form, which I think is the prob...
on: Tsunami
In Japanese "T" is definitely pronounced. "TSU" and "SU" are...
on: Flying (with) Colours?
Marta, I keep replying to your email, but you don't seem ...
on: Wiener Coffee
Jun-Dai, I think you raise interesting points here. With ...
on: Wiener Coffee
Speedwell, Tokyo used to be called Edo. I'm not sure abou...
on: Pronouns
This really bothers me too. My rationale is that I am a man,...
on: 00′s
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/dining/07TABL.html New ...
on: There is no such a thing as...
http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/fnews/2002-may/mayregulars3.h...
on: un/ir
This is somewhat off-topic and irrelevant, but the interesti...
on: There were/was an apple and an orange.
Hi Earl, I'm not sure if I get what you are saying. By "c...
on: The Reality
Thanks Wynne. I fixed the quotation marks. I'm aware of the ...
on: Matching the tense
Hi Ian L, I'm confused. Since I am NOT focused on when...
on: A Few Too Few
Here is my take: "Few" means small number. As in: "there...
on: How old am I?
My take on it is: You are a 38 year old man. And. You are...
on: Where are the commas?
I actually feel that Strunk's suggestion is superior, especi...
on: Where are the commas?
Now, this is interesting. Everyone I spoke to in the past ab...
on: Matching Numbers
"These computers EACH come with a 40GB drive" When you put ...
on: A position followed by a company name
The example was misleading. Kinsella is a last name of a per...
on: Type
Via Gregg: It should be "This type of car"....
on: What is / What are
Fowler's examples: Correct: What are required are faith an...
on: What is / What are
Now that I looked it up in the "Pocket" version of Fowler, w...
on: What is / What are
According to Fowler's English Usage, the verb that immediate...
on: Text, A Text, Texts
Now Roxy tells me that she uses "a text" in situations like ...
March 20, 2013, 3:54pm • 1 vote
on: “If I had studied, I would have a good grade.”
So, the question is: What is the difference between these tw...