Monday, April 26, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

A Synonym of "Lesson": Take

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 10:04 AM PDT

A phrase that is on the tip of my tongue. It consists of two words, the first of is "Take".

It means a lesson, an insight that you can take with you from now on from some situation that occured.

If anyone knows what I mean please help. Thanks!

what does "spiritual high" mean

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 09:58 AM PDT

"We desire to live from spiritual high to spiritual high."

This is some of the context

Word/phrase/etc. to refer to that one action of constantly pointing out other people’s mistake/(so-called) flaws to their face [duplicate]

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 08:09 AM PDT

I'm looking for a word/phrase/etc. to refer to that action/activity of constantly pointing out certain mistake/(so-called) flaw to the person having that flaw/doing the mentioned mistake.

For example, I'm fat and I feel perfectly fine with being fat. But somehow my friend constantly tell me "Look at you, so fat" or "How about dieting?" or "You eat a lot, no wonder you're fat."

Or I can't use computer and I don't mind not being able to operate it but my co-worker constantly tells me "You can't use a computer" or "How sad, you don't know how to use a computer." and it happens every time we meet.

Like they constantly slap the fact that I'm fat/I can't use a computer to my face. However, I don't think "to slap sth. to someone's face" is the one I'm looking for.

Edit: I think I've found it: "to rub something in someone's face." But please correct me if you think it's not the one.

Which is the correct way?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 09:05 AM PDT

  1. How do you expect a debate on the green new deal between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go?

Or

  1. How do you expect a debate on the green new deal to go between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

  2. Other better ways?

What’s the English for “democrature”, a dictatorship pretending to be a democracy through fraudulent elections?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 09:57 AM PDT

The French term democrature is defined as:

Dictature déguisée en démocratie par l'organisation d'élections non libres, contrôlées et/ou frauduleuses. Par extension, tout système visant à contrôler des élections, et y parvenant. That is: (Dictatorship disguised as a democracy by the organization of non-free, controlled and / or fraudulent elections. By extension, any system aiming to control elections, and succeeding in doing so.)

The Italian term democratura with the same meaning, is present in main dictionaries.

In English the literal translation is democraship, a term about which the only reference I could find is from a blog of Dr. Adizes:

"Democraship," is a term coined by Dr. Adizes that defines the conflict that exists between democratic and dictatorial systems.

whose definition appears to differ from the French or Italian one, plus I couldn't find the term in any dictionary.

Is there an established English term for "democrature" with the sense given by the French definition?

Am I using "quip" correctly?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 09:14 AM PDT

Lester B. Pearson, a famous Canadian politician, once said

Foreign policy is domestic policy with a hat on.

Is this a quip? If not what word would fit my sentence

Leston B. Pearson's ___, "Foreign policy is domestic policy with a hat on."

Right now I have quip.

Which one is correct here? [closed]

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 07:42 AM PDT

He advised me to buy the book

He advised me buying the book

What does the verb 'score' mean in computing?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 06:53 AM PDT

I have come across this verb on the IBM website but try as I might I couldn't find a literal extrapolation of it's meaning in my mind. After a Google, I found the dictionary definitions including (as a verb) 'to gain a score in a competitive game' and also 'orchestrate or arrange a piece of music.' Does this mean that IBM are asking developers to 'score' a project? In usage it comes up as: 'Create applications that score machine learning models in real time. This allows you to detect and respond to patterns and trends as they occur.' Is it the latest buzzverb or something? I could guess, it means something but as a potential IBM developer, I want to know EXACTLY what it means. I thought I'd come here before asking IBM to explain themselves! Yours

Antonym of operational in the sense of larger scope, and non-recurrence but not military

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 06:08 AM PDT

I'm looking for a word in that is an antonym of operational in something other than "does it function" and the online dictionary/thesarus don't have it. Can you help me find the word, and tell me how you did it so I can find it myself later?

Webster gives the following definition for "operational":
enter image description here

My purpose uses it in the sense of day-to-day operations.

It goes on to enumerate antonyms and synonyms as follows:
enter image description here

These are really on the "does it work vs. does it not work" spectrum. They are not on the "day-to-day, recurring, small scope, tactical operations as contrasted against serving a non-recurring, larger scoped, more strategic goal."

Options that don't work:

  • strategy vs. tactics: It is primarily military terminology about the execution of war, or about very high (CEO-scale) corporate jargon. I think of operations as the things that keep the factory lights on, place clean and operating properly, the machines supplied with their inputs, and with room to output their outputs.
  • Functional vs. non-functional. This is about scope, not about functionality.
  • Deliverable. It could be argued that a deliverable encompasses both operational and the word that I am trying to find.
  • Material. I work with folks who will view it as input to a production process and not as an outcome of a particular type of work.

Is there a word for "testing a test"

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 06:04 AM PDT

For example testing a test in software.

Validation or proof are near it, but I think it has not directly that meaning. Validating a test, or proofing a test, they could imply that a test of the test is involved, but not necessarily.

can "downstairs" in the phrase "From the street downstairs" be as an adverb?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 05:54 AM PDT

Vicki woke. Elizabeth was still sleeping, with her face to the wall. Her hair, flattened in the night, had formed matted curls which reminded Vicki against her will of what can be seen inside vacuum cleaners or the ripped seat of railway carriages. From the street downstairs, out the raised-eyebrow windows, rose a screeching of metal. Vicki slid out from under the pink quilt and went to the window, but the tram had launched itself again and was away, its little flag fluttering.

Does "street downstairs" mean: the rooms on the ground floor in a house. and "street downstairs" is another word for "ground floor"?

Or

Is "downstairs" here as an noun and "From the street downstairs" mean: from the downstairs that is towards street?

can "downstairs" here be adverb?

Is there an Idiom for someone who tried but failed because it was too much for him

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 05:40 AM PDT

I'm wondering if there's an idiom similar to an idiom in Czech. In Czech, it's 'Vylámat si na něčem zuby' ~ 'To break one's teeth on something'.

To try and do something but failing nonetheless. It's almost always used after the fact, but it can be used as a warning too.

'He tried to untighten the screw and spent all day on it and still nothing. He broke his teeth on it.'

I want to know the meaning of service or services [closed]

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 04:41 AM PDT

What is the difference between the Service or services

Why does adverbs usually have same form in both the singular and the plural?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 07:11 AM PDT

The question is in the title pretty much, I was wondering why in most cases it has the same plural and singular form

Meaning of "...on the week of ..."

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 04:55 AM PDT

I got an email to confirm my availability:

We would like to know your availability on the week of May 10th from 10:00 - 14:00.

Does it mean they are asking my availability for the whole week for the given timeslot?

Should I reply like this:

"....

May 10th - 10:00 - 14:00

May 11th - 12:00 - 14:00

May 12th - 10:00 - 11:00

...."

What is an appropriate name for a property that tells whether a list is empty, single or multiple?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 04:55 AM PDT

I have a property in programming which tells whether a list is empty, or has only one element or has more than one element. ( empty, single, multiple ).

I want to know what would be an appropriate name for the property that contains this value?

For example

{} -> empty  {"hi"} -> single / singular  {"hi", "bye"} -> multiple / plural

I want to know the name of the property that contains those values?

What is gender-neutral equivalent of poster boy/poster girl?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 10:01 AM PDT

What is the gender-neutral equivalent of poster boy/poster girl?

I want to use it in the context of a company, which is neither he nor she, like in: "a poster boy/poster girl company for self-organization."

Also, is either of the forms "poster boy" or "posterboy" more correct?

Which cleft sentence is correct and grammatical?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 05:28 AM PDT

What is correct?

  1. It's London that I live.

  2. It's London that I live in.

  3. It's in London where I live.

  4. It's London where I live.

These sentences seem to be cleft sentences, and I did a thorough research about the topic. And I understand generally how it works. However, I'm still puzzled as to which variant is correct in my case and how it can be explained.

But in Google Ngram Viewer I came across several sentences about time.

  1. It was Monday that I showed the plans to the Water Board/ It was Monday that I was sworn as a witness.
  2. It was on Monday that he called at my house.
  3. It was on Monday when I met Mrs. Surratt at Unlontown.
  4. It was Monday when I picked the report up.

I didn't find any examples with cities or any places of living, that's why I'm not sure about the sentences above. In example 1, the preposition "on" is ommited, and still the sentence exists( because we usually say "I showed the plans on Monday" but not "I showed the plans Monday"). But I can't figure out why the same doesn't apply to my sentences with London. I know we say "I live in London", but not "I live London". But it's still a great difficulty for me to understand finally why in the examples found in books it was possible to say "It was Monday that I showed..." or "It was Monday that I was sworn..." and to do without the preposition "on", but in my sentences about London it's incorrect to say "It's London that I live"?

For example, if someone is sure that I live in Paris and if I want to disagree and want to emphasize that I live exactly in London, what sentence should I use?

The part about examples from Google Ngram Viewer is the updated one. So it has not been answered yet.

Different words for incoming and outgoing delivery

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 04:09 AM PDT

In German there are different words for Incoming Delivery and Outgoing Delivery (Anlieferung and Auslieferung).

Are there some words in English that have similar distinction?

The closest match I could find is Supply for incoming and Delivery or Shipment for outgoing.

What is a person called who is playing an (online) game for another person as a paid service?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 03:29 AM PDT

Alice pays Bob to play using an online game account that Alice owns, so that Alice's account could level up or get stronger without Alice needing to play the game (grinding it).

What is Bob called?

Why is “disabled“ preferred over “handicapped”?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 07:48 AM PDT

The question may be too opinion based and highly contentious.

However, as a non native speaker with a serious disability, I have great trouble grasping why "disabled" is supposed to be much better than "handicapped". When I hear "handicapped" I think of someone on the gym taking a position that makes the exercise harder and ideally still pulling it off (incidentally, this is what I think my disability does; it makes my life a hell of a lot harder, but in the end I still prevail).

When I hear "disabled" I think of a machine completely switched off or an opponent immobilised (this is what I never want my disability to achieve: to make me feel utterly powerless).

Is it just a random effect of history that made "handicapped" so much worse (because people have simply had more time abusing the word) or can it be understood from the connotations of the two words outside medicine?

Sources that attest to the preferability of "disabled" are quite easy to find, but they don't explain why this preference came about. Examples: 1.

Another, which states that the connotation is opposite from what I expect, but not why: 2.

Here we have a comparison of the two including a summary table, but again "disabled" would strike me as the much more negative, except for the disputed hand-in-cap etymology, which I understand could make the term undesirable: 3

Here, "handicap" is connected to "Hand in Cap" through a game of chance unrelated to begging: 4

What is the meaning of "the level of confidence" and its following relative clause?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 06:43 AM PDT

I have difficulty understanding a part of the following sentence. The part in question is "provide the level of confidence which is consistent with regulatory requirements".

The purpose of the planning process is to define the means of producing a vehicle or system which will satisfy its technical requirements and provide the level of confidence which is consistent with regulatory requirements.

I guess "which is consistent with regulatory requirements" describes how high the confidence is, but even if my guess is right, I still cannot be sure if the level of confidence is high or low because I have no idea about the level of regulatory requirements. Regulatory requirements are defined by authorities concerned, so I should assume their level is high?

On the basis of my current interpretation, I paraphrased the sentence in question as follows:

  • The purpose of the planning process is to define the means of producing a vehicle or system which will satisfy its technical requirements and provide sufficient confidence that the vehicle or system can meet regulatory requirements.

I would like to know my attempt can mean the same as the original and be very glad if someone could paraphrase and/or explain the part in question.

Is "be parented to" grammatically correct?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 08:12 AM PDT

When "parent" is used as a transitive verb, it should be grammatically correct to use "be parented by" as in the examples in the following pages:

However, I see some usage of "be parented to" in technical documentation or discussion, such as the following:

There seem to be more pages using this construction, but I'm not sure it's a syntactically proper expression.

Is "be parented to" grammatically correct? If so, could you explain the meaning of it (in comparison to "be parented by")?

Use singular or plural noun after "at least one"?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 10:03 AM PDT

I am wondering which sentence is correct:

  1. I guess there is at least one apple in the bag.
  2. I guess there are at least one apples in the bag.

It seems to me that the first one sounds better. But I am not sure about it. Because "at least one" can mean 2 or 3...

Putting adverbs such as "on Wednesday" in the beginning and at the end of sentences

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 08:02 AM PDT

What's the difference between the following two sentences:

  1. On Wednesday I went shopping

  2. I went shopping on Wednesday

Use of the word 'off' to indicate a quantity

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 03:37 AM PDT

Over the years I've come across people saying things like:

The system has 2 off host and 1 off service connections.

This is nearly a verbatim quote from a technical document that I'm reviewing.

This happens quite a bit in my work place (verbally and written), and in my mind this is simply incorrect, and 'yucky'. I think it comes from people filling in a request sheet where they are after a specific thing from stores... for example:

3x {PART_NO} - specific cable

From here, I can understand that it is a mutation of 'of'...

I'll need 3 of these specific cables.

Regarding the first quote:

  • Is this accepted / proper English?
  • Is this in common usage?
  • Should this be corrected? (It's a public document)

In this scenario I'd rewrite it:

  • Remove 'off'
  • Re-order so that the last item is plural, to match 'connections'

The system has 1 service, and 2 host connections.

What's the meaning of /e/, /i:/, /a:/, /z/ and /p/?

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 05:42 AM PDT

homework

I was doing homework with the kid and I found this. Can anyone explain what this is about?

"Advise" vs. "advise that"

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 07:12 AM PDT

... and I want to advise they, too, come for a session.

... and I want to advise that they, too, come for a session.

The first is how I first wrote it. Do I need that?
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