The English language/vocabulary/verbal phrases |
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Kati
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 10 2010 Location: Earth Status: Offline Points: 6253 |
Posted: January 02 2015 at 06:15 | ||
Means both, depends on the concept
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ExittheLemming
Forum Senior Member Joined: October 19 2007 Location: Penal Colony Status: Offline Points: 11415 |
Posted: January 03 2015 at 05:02 | ||
Ok but would your creditor take the view that paying him after 2 years instead of twice a year be really just a matter of erm... 'context?' |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 06 2015 at 23:52 | ||
Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 09 2015 at 14:14 | ||
Got a new batch for you here: precept, goober, psychobabble, exclusionary vs. exclusive, slippery slope, growing pains, nancy ( ), soot, opulent, under the weather, chlamydia, underdog, quid pro quo, furtive.
What a sad batch coming from a 23-year-old residing in an English-speaking country. Edited by Dayvenkirq - January 09 2015 at 14:15 |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 09 2015 at 15:58 | ||
OK, here's one I've spotted that I can't find a definition for on the Web: technicalese (used in this context). Ostensibly, it means "too technical".
Edited by Dayvenkirq - January 09 2015 at 15:59 |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 01:21 | ||
Dean
Special Collaborator Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout Joined: May 13 2007 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 37575 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 02:40 | ||
Ah, no it doesn't. It may imply that in context but the -ese ending simple converts the root word to a noun meaning "of" or "from a place". Often it refers to the language of that place, for example Japanese and Portuguese, so when applied to nouns that are not places it refers to the "language of" whatever the root noun is and tends to mean "jargon". For example legalese is the language of the legal profession, tabloidese is the jargon of the tabloid journalist. Therefore technicalese simply means the language of the technologist, or more specifically technical jargon.
Edited by Dean - January 15 2015 at 02:51 |
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What?
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Argonaught
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 04 2012 Location: Virginia Status: Offline Points: 1413 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 04:38 | ||
There is a little bit of confusion here. The correct word is "bananual", which means either "as often as banana", or "as banana as often", or the other way around, depending on the consensually constricted content.
What's semiannual, though? |
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Dean
Special Collaborator Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout Joined: May 13 2007 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 37575 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 05:08 | ||
semiannual is an annual that isn't as fully annual, whereas a biannual can swing either way.
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ExittheLemming
Forum Senior Member Joined: October 19 2007 Location: Penal Colony Status: Offline Points: 11415 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 05:14 | ||
Thanks Argonaght, those quests with Jason are paying for themselves now |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 23:52 | ||
Pet rock (I guess in the context of the intro to this Elementary episode Sherlock meant "a dull, inefficient substitute" ... ... of course I may be wrong on this one);
Edited by Dayvenkirq - January 16 2015 at 00:53 |
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ExittheLemming
Forum Senior Member Joined: October 19 2007 Location: Penal Colony Status: Offline Points: 11415 |
Posted: January 15 2015 at 23:58 | ||
I was genuinely surprised with the origins of this expression:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark (Probably because I loathed the TV show so never watched it) |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 20 2015 at 00:35 | ||
Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 21 2015 at 23:43 | ||
Edited by Dayvenkirq - January 22 2015 at 14:33 |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 28 2015 at 09:53 | ||
This is the first time I've ever heard the idiom "the straw that broke the camel's back" in its full form: ... on a podcast. ... Yup.
The picture on this page suggests where the idiom may have come from.
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Dean
Special Collaborator Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout Joined: May 13 2007 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 37575 |
Posted: January 28 2015 at 11:39 | ||
We often assume that these old sayings and idioms are "as old as the hills" but this isn't always the case, especially when it involves some exotic animal that is not native to the country of the mother tongue such as a camel or a dodo. Of course many people living in rural England in the 18th century would have known what a camel was from references in the bible (the old "eye of a needle" parable), but they would never have seen one and certainly would not have associated it with a beast of burden. This makes me think that perhaps this phrase was an import from another language, possibly from the Middle East where camel-related idioms were more commonplace, so I wonder whether this phrase entered into the English language from the Jewish community.
Edited by Dean - January 28 2015 at 11:40 |
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Walton Street
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 24 2014 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 872 |
Posted: January 29 2015 at 12:18 | ||
I just found out now - that Pygmalion did not originate from the Shaw story (later to be made into the musical - My Fair Lady)
it was from Greek Mythology - a sculptor that fell in love with his creation .. I had no idea
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"I know one thing: that I know nothing"
- SpongeBob Socrates |
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Dean
Special Collaborator Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout Joined: May 13 2007 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 37575 |
Posted: January 29 2015 at 12:35 | ||
Aye. That's why he didn't call it My Fair Lady ...
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What?
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Walton Street
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 24 2014 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 872 |
Posted: January 29 2015 at 12:37 | ||
do I have to hand in my man card if I admit that it's one of my all time favourite films?
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"I know one thing: that I know nothing"
- SpongeBob Socrates |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: January 30 2015 at 04:47 | ||
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