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 : Expression
Lately I’ve been curious about some odd terms for describing American currency (even though I am an American myself).
1. Why is one thousand referred to as “grand” (i.e. one hundred grand)? And how did it degenerate into G (i.e. “5 G’s if you get this right”)?
2. Where did “bucks” come from? It seems to have no relation whatsoever to “dollars” and, although it’s easier to say, how the heck did it come to be?
Could someone explain to me the meaning of “when rubber meets the road?”
Does anyone know the history of the phrase “screw the pooch” and exactly what it means? Thanks.
Where does the term ‘five by five’ come from? I first heard it on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, but have since heard it in a military setting. The context on ‘Buffy’ is:
How are you doing? Five by five!
I take it to mean something like ‘fine’, ‘great’ or something similar. Does anyone know how it came to be?
A new English expression I have encountered is “talking through your hat”. Does anyone here know anything about this?
I think it must make your voice very muffled! (Joke!)
Where did the grammatic mutilation “I says” come from? It only seems to be used in place of “I said” when someone is relating a story that happened in the past. Random example: “So last week I was talking to my friend, and I says, ‘What do you think about that?’”
Hi guys! I’ve just dug up 3 new lingual curiosities: ‘washeteria’, ‘yogurgitation’ and ‘in-a-gadda-da-meeting’. How do you like them? ‘washeteria’ sounds to me like a Spanish word ‘cafeteria’ so it probably means a place where you take a shower; ‘yogurgitation’ is nicely connected with ‘yoghurt’ but it suggests throwing it up; the third word refers to a meeting, which could have been done in half of the time it actually took. However its spelling seems to me a little bit exotic. Can you help with the explanation?
Is there any nice and concise word for a person who is given private tuitions and the one for sb who makes graffiti?
I recently had the urge to use “Zen” to describe a way of traveling light, calm, and without want. However, after looking in a dictionary, I learned that “zen” is not listed as ever being an adjective. How can this be so? I am absolutely sure I have heard things being described as “zen” on television and in media. In a phrase such as “Zen garden” would “Zen” be an adjective, or would “Zen Garden” function as an entire, or proper, noun? Just wondering. Thanks.
A friend was thankful for a gift I gave him today and said to me, “I am in your debt. No, wait... you are in my debt. Thanks.”
I am now thinking about the meaning of these idioms. We’ve all heard variants of this (not using the word “indebted”):
1: “I am in your debt.” 2: “You are in my debt.” 3: “I am in debt to you. 4: “You are in debt to me.”
I am now unclear if the users of these phrases are using them correctly. Whom owes whom? Right now, I am seeing it like this: 1: Speaker is stating that listener owes something to speaker. 2: Statement that listener owes something to listener. 3: Speaker owes something to listener. 4: Statement that listener owes something to speaker.
Are these correct? Are there more clear variants of showing indebtedness (I now open the subject up to using the word “indebted”)?
