Discussion Forum
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 : Usage
Why does “flu” get “the”, while “cold” gets “a”? It appears that you never say “a flu”.
When you say “Americans” to mean the American people, do you need “the”? What is the difference between with and without “the” for any nationality? E.g. “The Germans” vs. “Germans”, “The French” vs. “French”.
Ok, I hope I phrase this correctly to be understood well enough to elicit an answer. What is the difference between, being “in love” with someone, and telling someone “I love you.” Because to my understanding, you can be In Love With someone while not directly being involved with them (stalker, adoring fans etc...). But to tell some one that you love them or “I love you” would require a prior relationship. Are there two different connotations attached, or am I just an idiot?
When I hear things like “advance care” or “Game Boy Advance” it always makes me cringe. Is this really correct? Shouldn’t it be “Advanced care”, because it connotates a superior level of, well, care?
Is there a preference of any sort? As in “John Smith, aged 45, was awarded the city’s highest honor at a luncheon . . . ” or “John Smith, age 45, was awarded the city’s highest honor at a luncheon . . .”
Does anyone know anything about the etymology of the word “broad”, used to denote a woman?
“I’d like to be friends with you.”
Why “friends”? It seems to make more sense to say, “I’d like to be a friend with you.” The “I” is singular, not plural.
“We are friends,” makes sense.
“I’d like to be your friend,” too makes sense.
Once I used the term “savory” to mean the opposite of sweet, i.e., pizza as opposed to ice cream. I used it in a sentence similar to: “In the savory genre, the pizza was the best thing they had.”
My friend, who is a professional writer, told me that he had never heard the word “savory” used to mean something not sweet, and therefore to avoid using it in that sense since many people may get confused. But then I keep hearing it used everywhere around me. So, how common is this usage of “savory” to mean something not sweet?
I use “shrewd” to mean smart but in a negative, cunning way. One native English speaker told me that this is wrong. According to her “shrewd” is just as positive as “smart”. But another native English speaker told me that I am right. What is your impression of the word “shrewd”?
The word “commodity” seems to have contradictory meanings. In one sense a commodity is something valuable, precious, desired, and/or expensive, but in another sense, it is something common, ubiquitous, dime-a-dozen, cheap, and undesirable. In my head, the former definition is more dominant, but is that normal? When you hear the word “commodity”, which association do most people have?
