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1500 questions
31
votes
2 answers
When should "Mom" and "Dad" be capitalized?
I am trying to understand capitalization rules with Mom and Dad. I believe I have it correct below, but please let me know if I do not.
The one thing I learned from my dad was that it was good to earn the trust of one's children. Dad has shown me…
Volomike
- 1,405
31
votes
8 answers
What word means "the top of a person's head"?
I'm writing something—a story to be exact—and I am looking for a word which means "the top of a person's head." I remember seeing a word in which its meaning is exactly this one from a book that I'd read—Crispin: The Cross of Lead. I think it was…
CSMAlternate
- 343
31
votes
6 answers
Are the rules regarding absolute adjectives too absolute?
A common grammar lesson that was taught to me in the US and that I've had to teach abroad in EFL classrooms is that we're not to use adverbs of emphasis with absolute modifiers, just as we're not supposed to use them as comparatives or…
user13141
31
votes
5 answers
Is there a difference between "treble" and "triple"?
I've been reading The Economist lately and noticed that the magazine uses both trebled and tripled. According to my dictionary, "treble" means "threefold; triple". Is there a subtle difference, not captured by the dictionary entry?
Some examples,…
mjleino
- 413
31
votes
5 answers
Why are there 4 ambiguous phonetic symbols in IPA representations of English?
I'm interested in phonetics in order to speak as properly as possible. And here's the thing, there are four vowels with ambiguous symbols:
The first problem is the sound [ɛ] like in dress: /drɛs/ according to WordReference and Oxford dictionary but…
Laurent Garnier
- 419
31
votes
2 answers
What were—or are—"odd pants?"
From the mid 19th century to about the mid 20th century, there were a lot of advertisements in newspapers and magazines for something called odd pants. Judging from context, I suspect they were not just "unusual," which is what one would likely…
RaceYouAnytime
- 22,413
31
votes
8 answers
What's a word to describe an apartment when its owners are on vacation?
Please help me choose the most suitable word in this context:
When I went on vacation, thieves climbed into my abandoned apartment.
Does 'abandoned' word fit well in this usage? My apartment does not contain junk and not dilapidated. Good one with…
kapandron
- 429
31
votes
3 answers
Term like air lock, but underwater?
I am looking for the right term for... well, like an air lock on a space station, but for an underwater station. You open the outer hatch, get in, close the hatch, water gets pumped out, you open the inner hatch.
The German word for it would be…
DevSolar
- 801
31
votes
18 answers
A verb for “The cartographer painstakingly ___ a map of the city.”
I am looking for a verb to describe the creation of a map as in the following paragraph:
Unfortunately, due to strong winds during the journey home, the maps you have painstakingly ___ were blown off your ship and are now forever lost to the depths…
Bernard
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31
votes
8 answers
What does "up she rises" mean in the sea shanty "Drunken Sailor"?
It's early in the morning, so perhaps the sailor in question is rousing from his drunken stupor. But sailors were traditionally all men, so why "up she rises"? Is the sailor being mocked, or does it refer to something else entirely?
What'll we do…
z7sg Ѫ
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- 102
31
votes
14 answers
English idiom for learning a skill by observing someone else doing it
I've had this silly obsession for a while: I can't seem to find a proper phrase in English that is as expressive and 'colorful' as the idiom in my native language that describes learning a new skill by watching someone else doing it, without being…
morla
- 311
31
votes
10 answers
Difference between "I'm fine" and "I'm good"
When my coworker in the US asks me "How are you?" I usually answer "I'm fine", but the last time I told him "I'm good" and he replied "I'm glad to hear that".
It looks like "I'm fine" means "I'm OK" but not quite good as "I'm good".
What is the…
Anonymous
- 3,052
31
votes
1 answer
What is the origin of the phrase "This is why we can't have nice things"?
The phrase "This is why we can't have nice things" shows up in TV, films, and memes. I asked Google where it came from and got some specific examples that are too recent, like Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998 film) or an early Simpsons episode. But others…
meustrus
- 411
31
votes
3 answers
Why does "for good" mean "forever"?
A very recent and similar question was closed asks what "for good" means. While general reference can answer the question, I became curious as to the etymology of the idiom. Googling around got me nowhere, which is unusual. The closest I found…
Daniel
- 57,547
31
votes
5 answers
What is the meaning of comprehension in the term "list comprehension"?
Python programming language, among others, has a construct to create lists which is called a list comprehension.
A simple example:
[(2*n) for n in range(1, 6)]
generates a list of numbers: [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]. For integers between 1 and 5, it…
ayhan
- 413