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.
Do You Have a Question?
Latest Posts : Expression
I’m wondering why people write “men’s bathroom” and use possesive form here and “ladies bathroom” and use just plural noun without apostrophe. If “ladies’ room” (with apostrophe) is correct then why the apostrophe is so often omitted. I don’t think that it’s about laziness because if it were then everyone would write “mens bathroom” which is uncommon.
I ran across this expression in a novel by A. Brashares, “The cat...MADE MUFFINS on her stomach and curled in for a long stay.” What does “made muffins” mean?
Speaker A: I don’t like going to the beach when it is cold outside. Speaker B: Me neither.
According to an english grammar website, speaker B is wrong. “me neither” should be changed to “neither do I” or “me either”
I see “me neither” used most frequently on the web. But I think I hear people use “me either” more frequently in speech. Which is correct? Why?
“At least” and “at the least”, are they identical? Or, do they have different connotations? Or, do they depend on contexts?
This is not exactly a language thing but when you say “Shame on you!”, you brush your index finger against the other. What does that mean? Where did it come from? What does that symbolize?
Although my husband, who is French, has spent more than twenty years in the U.S., he still sometimes asks for clarification of obscure linguistic issues. One that I have found to be especially elusive is “doofus.” What is the exact difference, my husband wondered, between a doofus and an idiot? It seems to me that “idiot” can be used to describe any old bonehead, but that a doofus is always male, white, fat, AND stupid. I would be interested in others’ points of view on this topic.
While we are at this racial slur thing: I was told that “He is a Jew” sounds offensive, but “He is Jewish” does not, because the former sounds like a Nazi trying to identify Jews from the rest, which is odd because he would not be speaking English in the first place. To make the matter more confusing, I was told that “They are Jews” is not offensive. Singular is offensive but plural isn’t? You would probably say, “He is American” instead of “He is an American”, but either way it does not sound offensive.
Webster defines “chink” as “narrow opening”.
However in California people seem to only think about its derogatory (bigotry) meaning, and only after you press them they recall that “Oh yeah, we actually say ‘chink in the fence’ so that probably makes sense”.
Just curious, how widespread is its original meaning - is it only in the Golden State people react like that?
A pet peeve of mine is people incorrectly using the expression “I could care less”. I’m no grammar nazi as you can tell from this email, but it doesn’t make sense to say. Here is an example.
Rooomate 1: “You suck at this video game. I always kick your butt in it.” Roomate 2: “I could care less.” Roomate 1: “Haha.”
If you say you COULD care less then that means you care to some degree. However, if you COULDN’T care less (the proper way of saying the expression) then it means you absolutely don’t care at all, therefore properly expressing your apathy.
From Brad Davis
