Monday, July 26, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Usage of Callipygian / Callipygous

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 09:42 AM PDT

I am not at all familiar with this word. Oxford dictionary defines Callipygian as

adjective (rare) having well-shaped buttocks.

DERIVATIVES callipygous | ˌkalɪˈpɪdʒəs, ˌkalɪˈpʌɪdʒəs | adjective

I came across it in the following context:

Search on YouTube for "female long jumpers"...notice anything consistent about the thumbnails? Why do the cameramen at these sports events seem so adroit at focusing on the most callipygian of the ladies?

The usage of the word callipygian in the above sentence somehow doesn't feel correct. Is it because callipygian is used rather than callipygous, or is the sentence grammatically incorrect in either case?

Infinitive vs. To Be Gerund

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Which of the following sentences is regarded as more grammatical?

  1. They appear to like their new neighborhood.

OR

  1. They appear to be liking their new neighborhood.

Is it the case that while both may be grammatically proper, each sentence structure above conveys a different meaning and/or area of emphasis?

'A place where I know', 'The day when we should remember' Does these phrases sound weird? If so, why?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 08:58 AM PDT

I know those sound weird but I don't know why. Maybe where and when should be used as adverb not as an object of a sentence? Could someone explain clearly about this?

The use of the term "agreeability" when comparing two results

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 09:43 AM PDT

I'm writing a scientific paper about two obtained results: an experimental result and a numerical one. Because the two agree well with each other, I may use the term "agreeability" to describe their relation. For instance, I may write "a good agreeability of the numerical result with the experimental one was achieved". However, after searching on the web I found that the term "agreeability" is uncommon (actually, this website regards it as an orthographic error) and it is better used when describing someone's personality trait.

I ask you then some other words that may replace the term "agreeability" and could be used within a scientific context. I know that I could write something like "thing A agrees well with thing B", which is correct, but I really would like a single word (or not much more than one), more specifically, a noun that could describe the relation.

'Torment' - mass or count noun?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 08:41 AM PDT

Are there any differences in grammar between the 'mass noun'  torment  and the 'count noun' torment.

For Example :

Waking me up all the time when I am asleep is torment. (mass noun)

Waking me up all the time when I am asleep is a torment (count noun)

This is torment. (mass noun) or This is a torment. (count noun)

Swearing is torment. (mass noun) or Swearing is a torment. (count noun)

Are there any differences between the usage of the mass noun, and the count noun, and which of the above sentences would be correct, in usage and grammar? Secondly, does the 'count noun' a torment change to 'torments' when there is a plural noun?

For Example :

Fights are a torment.

Fights are torments (Plural count noun)

Does grammar require one to use a plural noun when the subject of the sentence begins with a plural noun?

Does the 'count noun' (a torment) describe something or someone that harasses, or pesters, and does the mass noun (torment) describe mental, or physical suffering? Or can both nouns be used in the same manner to mean, annoyance, or harassment?.

Over versus overly

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 08:24 AM PDT

A few years ago, I read a grammar rule about the proper use of over versus overly. After searching, I can no longer find it. My husband says it is correct to add an LY anytime you want to describe a verb. He therefore says things, such as overly cook, overly eat, overly worked,etc. I am hearing other people use these words as well. I believe the compound words, overcook, overeat, etc. would be correct here. Not only does the added LY sound unnecessary, I believe there is a rule explaining the reason.

specifying use of 'be'

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 09:43 AM PDT

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 266) defines the ascriptive and specifying uses of be as follows:

[45] i His daughter is very bright/a highly intelligent woman. [ascriptive]

ii The chief culprit was Kim. [specifying]

In the ascriptive use, PC denotes a property and characteristically has the form of an AdjP or a non-referential NP; the subject is most often referential and the clause ascribes the property to the subject-referent. Thus [i], for example, ascribes to his daughter the property of being very bright or being a highly intelligent woman. The specifying use defines a variable and specifies its value. We might represent [ii] therefore as "The x such that x was the chief culprit was: Kim"; it serves to specify, or identify, who the chief culprit was. We will refer to the semantic roles joined by be as theme and property in the ascriptive case, and as variable and value in the specifying case.

In which use is the following sentence?

(1) One of the most successful pop singers is Adele.

At first, it seems to be in the specifying use, but I was wondering if we could represent (1) as "The x such that x was one of the most successful pop singers was: Adele", which doesn't really make sense because there could be one of the most successful pop singers other than Adele.

Is (1) really in the specifying use?

"The" inside or outside quotation marks when naming a thesis

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 07:57 AM PDT

When stating the name of a scientific thesis or principle, for example, "the theory of evolution," should "the" be inside or outside the quotation marks?

Put simply, which option is preferable: (1) "the theory of evolution," or (2) the "theory of evolution"?

The context for this is that I want to introduce the name of the theory. For example, so-and-so called this theory "..." or this theory is standardly called "...".

Edit: clarified what is the context in which I want to do this.

Submitted to <name of conference> or submitted to the <name of conference>? [closed]

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 11:06 PM PDT

Should I write submitted to <name of conference> or submitted to the <name of conference>?

In this case, the conference is International Conference on Approximation Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems which sounds weird without a "the".

What does "screaming silence" mean? [closed]

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 02:54 AM PDT

Ever since I first saw this classic episode of The Simpsons, I've been wondered what this joke is all about. It seems to suggest that it's a French term rather than English?

Basically, they are having a fashion show in the school for the new school uniforms, and Lisa Simpson walks on stage to this commentary from the lunch lady:

Or, how about little Lisa Simpson? She'll have no reason to play the blues in this snappy ensemble topped off with a saucy French beret that seems to scream "Silance!"

I'm unsure about the "Silance" part. It sounds like "silence", but French. What would "screaming silence" mean? How can a piece of cloth (beret) scream at all?

Regardless of the meaning of the joke, I always found it funny anyway, because of the way it's said and how unhappy/uncomfortable Lisa looks in the scene. But I would finally like to learn what it actually refers to.

Word that describes a stand in or a frontman? [duplicate]

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 04:22 AM PDT

I am trying to remember the word that describes a person who holds a certain title and appears as the person who is making the decisions but in reality there is someone else who is actually making the decisions and pulling the strings. So this person is essentially just in title and the person behind the scenes is the real person who that title belongs to. The latter could be a person or even a group of people.

So for example a stand in. Not quite an imposter. I thought there was a better word than stand-in or a front, but it is escaping me.

Puppet is what first came to mind but I had thought there was a word that was even more specific.

The definite article and "OF"

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 08:04 PM PDT

Here are two examples from English press.

Example 1
Women's sport could generate more than £1bn per year by 2030, and increasing the visibility of female athletes and teams is key to unlocking this potential.

Example 2
An energy conference featuring women-only panels is being held next month to address the lack of visibility of female leaders in the sector.

Why Example 2 is not the lack of the visibility of female leaders as in Example 1?

What if we extend it even more, which one sounds correct?
Let's talk about the importance of the lack of the visibility of female leaders?
Let's talk about the importance of lack of visibility of female leaders?
or something else...?

What's the meaning of "taking someone up for the downs"? [closed]

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 06:25 PM PDT

I was watching a British period drama based on Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Somewhere in the movie, a very poor family lose their horse, a lifeline for the family, in an accident. After the animal's burial, the mother of the family says to her children, "Well, we must take you up for the downs." What does she exactly mean? By the way, the words before or after this sentence are not related.

iambic pentameter, stress, and monosyllables

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 05:57 PM PDT

I am studying poetry structure and I am focusing on iambic pentameter at the moment.

From what I have read, there are 10 syllables per line and 5 stressed and 5 unstressed syllables. It goes unstressed, stressed, unstressed etc.

For words that have more than one syllable, it seems that the stressed and unstressed pattern is set already. e.g. if you go to dictionary.com:

after [af-ter] the first syllable is always stressed.   before [bih-fawr, -fohr] the second syllable is always stressed.

However, with monosyllables, it's not clear.

Example Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/mers day?/

I, be, to, a, thee, not, day etc. are not stressed on their own.

Is it that they are stressed following an unstressed word?

e.g. to be/ I am/ they are/

"1 through 3" VS "1, 2 and 3"

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 08:02 PM PDT

Are both of these structures grammatically correct, and is either of them preferable in something like a semi-casual email?

I read chapters 1 through 3.

I read chapters 1, 2 and 3.

What is a single word alternative to "whispered"?

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 09:35 PM PDT

I am looking for a single word alternative to "whispered". I am already using whispering for emotional, scared or caring dialogue and so the odd time when I try to use it for a neutral (unaffected) whisper it still feels to me like the character is being emotional, scarred or caring which gives of the wrong vibe. The closest I have found is "murmur" but that (to me at least) feels too much like "mumble", and "hiss" is usually used for aggressive whispering. Any suggestions at all?

I could go with something like "he/she said softly/gently/quietly etc" but I'm hoping there's a better alternative?

Can vs Could usage differences

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 01:07 AM PDT

  1. He goes to London every month so that he can see his ailing father.

  2. He goes to London every month so that he could see his ailing father.

Which of the above sentences is correct??

My friends are saying second sentence is wrong, as "goes to london" is present tense form and "could" is used for past tense forms. So we can't use "could" here.

But I learnt could is also used for hypothetical forms also. Why can't we use "could" here in hypothetical sense or to show possibility? For example: He goes to London every week so that he could see his ailing father (If hospital authorities permitted him or if he wanted to )

Need word to capture both physical devices and software [closed]

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 10:03 PM PDT

Need a word as an umbrella term for both physical devices and software/downloads that we offer. Can't use "product," as that already means the physical devices. This is for a user interface, where we list both "products" (devices/parts) and software, design schema, and other intangibles. Thinking of using "item" to tell user to select from this mixed list of physical and electronic media. Suggestions?

Is “horizontal slits” an acceptable description?

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 11:04 PM PDT

Sometimes on tv or while seeing an old video, there are slits on the screen, interrupting the video. It is like static. Is it okay to say "horizontal slits on screen" to describe this type of error? Is it clear?

Here is an example: https://youtu.be/dV-A9BDd1HY (00:46)

This will be very helpful.

"Could be" vs "Could have been" [closed]

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT

"it could be rain yesterday" or "it could have been rained yesterday" Which one is correct? When we talk about a past event, actually didn't happen.

relative pronoun at the beginning of the sentence

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 02:41 AM PDT

"To you (Right Honorable my very good Lord) of right do they belong: for to whom shall I rather present the first fruits of my learning than to your Lordship: who nourished then both me and them, when there was scarce any being to me or them? And whose just and upright carriage of causes, whose zeal to justice and honorable courtesy to all men, have purchased you a reverend and worthy respect of all men in all parts of this kingdom, where you are known. And to your good Ladyship they do of great right belong likewise; whose religion, justice, and honorable admittance of my unworthy service to your Ladyship do challenge at my hands the uttermost of what ever I may be able to perform."

This is from a 1612 text and I'm having a hard time understanding it. I think first and second bolded 'whose' represent the addressed lord and lady respectively, but then is it grammatically possible to put a relative pronoun at the beginning of the sentence in modern English?

Why's a call option called 'call', and put option called 'put'?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 07:11 AM PDT

I'm asking about etymology, and not what these options are. The answers beneath don't feel convincing; can't 'call' and 'put' be interchanged in them? I'll abbreviate Call Option to CO, and Put Option to PO. From Quant SE:

Not as much on origin of this, but some analogy that I find helpful:

Call - think of an open auction when bidders call out their prices for an auctioned item. So with a call option you've got a privilege to call the strike price, effectively having a right to buy the underlying asset.

Put - think that you own a privilege to put the asset for sale at the strike price, effectively having a right to sell the underlying asset.

Mind that for an option buyer this is optional to exercise it, yet for the option writer it's an obligation to transact, should the buyer opt to exercise it.

But can't I be said to:

  1. for a CO, "put" (to the CO seller) to buy the security at the strike price (for a CO)?

  2. for a PO, "call" (to the CO seller) to sell the security at the strike price?

From Quora:

When you buy a call and exercise it you are receiving stock that you have "called" up from the person that sold you the call, the right to buy. When you buy a put you have purchased the right to sell the stock, or "put it" to the person who sold you the put.

Again, can't I say that a:

  1. CO is when a CO seller "puts" the call option to the CO buyer?

  2. PO is when a PO buyer is "calling" the PO seller to buy the security from the buyer?

Word for "proportional government based on map area"?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 04:41 AM PDT

Since the US election the other day, I've started seeing the usual spate of choropleth maps like the one below.

choropleth map of 2016 US election [source and discussion]

These are problematic for representing the results of political elections because what matters in those elections is (usually) the total number of votes cast by persons, while the maps are weighted instead by area. For instance, the map above is predominantly red, but it represents a result in which blue had a couple of percentage points of advantage. This is possible because many of the red areas are large but contain only a few people, while many of the blue areas are geographically small but have very dense populations.

I'm looking for a single word that describes a (hypothetical) system of government where equal areas on a map earned equal representation in the legislature. I would expect such a word to follow the same structure as "democracy," which has a Greek root (δημος/"people") plus the suffix -cracy from κρατος/"state." Other examples in this model are "aristocracy" (αριστος/best), "kleptocracy" (κλεπτον/thief), "kakistocracy" (κακος/worst). Branching out a bit would include "monarchy" (μονος/"single", αρχος/"ruler"), or similar models.

This word would fit in a space like

In a(n) ________, maps like the above would be distortion-free representations of an election result; there would be no difference between a(n) _______ and democracy if the population density were the same everywhere.

I have an idea for what this word should be, which I'll put in an answer, along with my reservations about it. If a better word already exists, I would love to know about it; if the word that I've coined is well-attested and I just can't find it, I'd like references to that as well.

Also, my Greek is super-rusty, so corrections to my etymology here are relevant and appreciated.

Craving vs longing vs yen

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 04:05 AM PDT

What is the difference between long, yen, and crave, as verbs and nouns both?

Longman:

Longing - a strong feeling of wanting something or someone
Craving - an extremely strong desire for something (listing Longing as a direct synonym)
Yen - a strong desire

They're used as:

  • Long to do something / for something or someone; Have a longing for someone, something/to do something

  • Crave something; have a craving for something

  • Yen for something, someone / to do something; have a yen for something, someone / to do something

Is seems to me craving is used mostly when you talk about food or something (or something immaterial, like attention). Both long and yen strike me as somewhat poetic.

What are the differences between them, which is used more often and in what contexts? Do any of them sound archaic / stilted / poetic?

What's the origin of "lit"?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 08:33 AM PDT

Since June 2015, the use of the word lit has exploded on Twitter. Here are some recent examples.

Nena Marie:

My Year is starting off lit af👌🏼 ...but is gonna be TD by Monday morning

Nick:

Jason got lit last night. Was the show for at least half the snapchat stories this morning.

Summer Monae':

When you and bae both lit and give each other that look

The @lovihatibot Twitterbot routinely finds it in searches for "I love the word [X]" and "I hate the word [X]", in fact, it's the third most hated) and eighth most loved over 30 days, and fourth most hated and 10th most loved in all of 2015. That's a lot of love and hate for a little word, it can't be random babble to cause such a reaction.

Similarly, it regularly shows up in @favibot's searches for "[X] is my new favorite word" and came in as third favorite for all 2015.

What does lit mean here?

Where does it come from and when was it first used?

Was there a single person or event which popularised it, and when was it? Or if it's an older word, what accounts for its recent popularity?

What is a word called that consists of a repetition of one word?

Posted: 25 Jul 2021 09:59 PM PDT

What is a word called that consists of a repetition of one word?

I came across the word polypoly in one of the other question asked on the site, and it got me thinking whether there are other English words that are made up of a word or part of a word repeated in the same way that polypoly is made up of poly + poly. Can you please provide examples also?

Is there a term for this word play where a song intentionally avoids completing a rhyme?

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 04:18 AM PDT

Take this for example:

In this video, at 1:04 to 1:10, the person goes on rapping with a rhyming word at the end of each line, but he pauses before the end of the last word and, being humans, we predict the next word (due to the hint from the rhyme) that he is going to say but he avoids it intentionally. Is there a word or phrase for this word play?

...and the beat still knocks when I sort my socks
I'm five foot eleven of sex
from the tip of my head to my gorgeous...
knees

Not the best example I could find but I think it sums up my point quite well.

Pre-planning vs planning

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 07:48 AM PDT

The Oxford online dictionary defines "pre-plan" as to "plan in advance". But isn't that generally the point of planning - to do it in advance?

"Will be able to"

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 08:59 AM PDT

One of my friends told me that "will be able to" is a wrong phrase. Able doesn't fit with will. Is this true?

"Based on" instead of "based off of"

Posted: 26 Jul 2021 02:20 AM PDT

I sometimes see cases where off is followed by of, and it sounds awkward to me. For example, I would prefer

This story is based on a true story.

to

This story is based off of a true story.

What do native speakers think/prefer? Should I avoid that kind of usage?
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