Friday, August 27, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Why *remedy* means school term break? [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:38 AM PDT

From m-w.com :

Definition of remedy (Entry 1 of 2) 1: a medicine, application, or treatment that relieves or cures a disease 2: something that corrects or counteracts 3: the legal means to recover a right or to prevent or obtain redress for a wrong

I don't understand why it means the break in a school term?

What is the origin of "don't punch a gift horse in the mouth"

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:41 AM PDT

I had always thought that the phrase was "don't look..." but my friend insists that it is "don't punch..." and there are a non-zero number of web search results showing usage of the other phrase. But I can't figure out where it comes from, or what it means, or if it is different from my understanding of the phrase (as Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth)

Is this potentially a regional usage?

What kind of categories are Ongoing Series, Limited Series and One Shot? [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:53 AM PDT

In comic books common terms are 1. ongoing Series, 2. limited Series and 3. One Shot.

I'm looking for a word that defines what these categories are examples of, what type of division is this?

"Media type" and "Media Format" seem very general.

Thanks for your help!

How to write names of different things specified by thier kinds?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:44 AM PDT

I'm interested in the particular case of writing the name of thing connected with the kind of thing. For example, I would write the "Enter" button, the "Hello World" script, etc.

Is this correct? Could it be written in another way?

Because also we have The River Thames and River Thames, but the Mississippi River...

What is the word for the complementary relationship implied by the word dependent?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:09 AM PDT

Dependency is directional. Starting a car is dependent on petrol. But petrol is not dependent on starting a car.

What word describes the relationship from petrol to the car?

"It is!" I squealed at the same time she cried, "It's not!" - Is this sentence correct? [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 06:24 AM PDT

Is this sentence apt? -

"It is!" I squealed at the same time she cried, "It's not!"

No intention to do something [migrated]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 05:43 AM PDT

Don't say that someone 'has no intention to do' something, but '...of doing something'.

https://www.wordreference.com/EnglishUsage/intention

Why is it so? (Not) to intend to do something is grammatical.

Secondly, what about "not (have) any intention" ?

Which one to use: is or are [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 06:37 AM PDT

Which one of the following is the correct usage:

  1. There are an old man and an old woman in the story.
  2. There is an old man and an old woman in the story.

It would be better if you can provide some sort of general rule and further examples.

Concerning the usage of "something and something of something" [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 06:03 AM PDT

I'm very confused about a specific usage of the "and" (I think). Here is the case:

This fascinating distance and loss of singularity

What this phrase means? Are "fascinating distance" and "loss" belong to "singularity"? Or, are they basically two different things?

Thanks.

In the building trades, what exactly is a "joiner" in the UK? [closed]

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 03:52 AM PDT

Every time I watch a UK-based renovation or restoration series, they call in a "joiner" to handle…something else, one of the various different trades that they specialize in, it seems. Instead of a jack of all trades, a "joiner" seems to be a master craftsman of many trades.

Or is "joiner" used as a generic term for various trades?

Or is it for a specific trade, for example, a trim/finish carpenter?

But one who could, incidentally, reproduce anything that happened to dry rot in your cottage in the last two or three hundred years if necessary. Just a "joiner"? Really?

How and why were different inflections applied to third-person singular verbs in the Early Modern period?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 02:27 AM PDT

I can't get my head around why and how inflections were used in Early Modern English. I know that they were used to mark person, number and tense and so on but how and why exactly?

A word to describe an assistant who knows when to ask me for help on cases he is not familiar with?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:12 AM PDT

I have an assistant who helps me deal with some daily works.

Currently, he deals with everything on his own. Apparently, there are cases he is not familiar with, but he never reports them to me. So I have to check all his results, which costs me a lot of time.

I hope that for cases he is familiar with, he could do it himself; but for the cases he is unfamiliar with, he should ask me for help, or mark those cases for me. So that I only need to check the cases he asked for help.

Finally, I want to say, this is actually a word choice problem in academic writing. We are designing a virtual assistant, and want a word to distinguish it from previous know-all assistants.

So what is the best word for the following blanks?

  • You should be __ on this work.
  • I want a __ assistant for this work.
  • We design a virtual assistant that is __ comparing with existing ones.

Is there a word to describe someone who dislikes incompetence?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 06:10 AM PDT

I'm looking for a word or words to describe a person who dislikes incompetence (when someone can't do a job successfully), or those they deem ineffective in their work. It would also especially irk them if the person won't admit that they are incompetent/ineffective.

I'm having trouble trying to intepret what is being stated in the following C# documentations concerning Namespaces?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 06:01 AM PDT

According to this statement in the C# MS doc Accessibility Levels (C# Reference)

Access modifiers are not allowed on namespaces. Namespaces have no access restrictions.

However, the following statement in the C# MS doc namespace contradicts the above.

Namespaces implicitly have public access.

Does this mean that a namespace declaration implicitly consists of the public access modifier as part of its definition? (similar to how a constant member declaration implcitly consists of the static keyword as part of its definition).

Translation for German word "Kür" as in "Pflicht und Kür"

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:14 AM PDT

I am trying to find a crisp translation of the German phrase "Pflicht und Kür. deepl.com yields "Duty and freestyle" as translation for "Pflicht und Kür" which irritated me.

In my (business) context "Pflicht" is understood as expected/required/obligatory actions/things, while "Kür" is understood as voluntary actions/things usually surpassing "Pflicht" with their quality/greatness. So freestyle feels a bit short here as it doesn't reflect the part where people are "going above and beyond/over deliver". (Thank you for your helpful comment @Ben A.)

Also I tried but failed to find a meaningful synonym to "freestyle" in my context, which is not "skating" but delivering projects.

Which verb is used to describe a person who is responsible and organising for doing something?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 07:06 AM PDT

I want to use a verb to describe a person who is responsible for doing something, and the person is also the leader, organizer, or initiator of doing a project or something.

Checking the dictionary, it seems I can't say:

He leads to build this website.

So, my question is that is there any verb to describe the meaning as above? For example:

He [verb] (to) build/building this website.

Feel appreciated for your help.

"detect opportunely" vs "opportunely detect"?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 07:51 AM PDT

In the next phrase:

Only a few doctors assess their patients about the type and frequency of the tests they should be doing to detect opportunely and prevent such diseases, but we will help you solve this problem.

What makes more sense "detect opportunely" or "opportunely detect" and why? Is there a rule?

Adjective meaning "disposable" that sounds more eco-friendly

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:38 AM PDT

I'm marketing a product I invented for travelers. It's made of recyclable card stock. Travelers will use it for a week or less, and then either recycle it or throw it out.

"Disposable" is a good description, but doesn't sound eco-friendly.

"Recyclable" is too easily misinterpreted as meaning reusable.

I'd like to be able to use the word or phrase in my short product description: "The disposable [product] for hotel guests" or "The recyclable [product] for hotel guests".

Would a drinking straw, made out of natural straw, be called a 'straw straw'?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:31 AM PDT

Significant efforts are afoot to reduce plastic waste and one way of doing so is to revert to using natural straws as drinking straws.

This example uses wheat straws but it doesn't matter which plant is used, particularly as the word 'straw' is non-specific (see Cambridge) and can relate to any grain producing a hollow stalk.

So if a non-specific straw is used as a drinking straw can we call it a 'straw straw' ?

Or is there a better description ?

Edit Note : The term 'natural straw' would not be specific to usage as a drinking straw. It could be used for other things. The term 'straw straw' makes clearer both composition and use, I believe.

Social, Political, and Economical in One Word?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 04:34 AM PDT

As Afro-Eurasia means Africa, Europe, and Asia, what is a similar word for social, political, and economical? Sociopolitical and socioeconomical exist, but is there a way to incorporate all 3? I find myself in need of such a word when writing history papers.

The __________ situation of Haiti during the Haitian revolution was very dependent on France's ideals.

How to positively describe something, such as a war memorial, which doesn't invoke positive feelings?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 08:20 AM PDT

If I wanted to express that something such as a holocaust memorial was good to visit I would want to avoid saying something such as "it was great" or "I enjoyed visiting it".

Is there a word that can positively describe something like a memorial without suggesting it was pleasurable.

Some words I've considered, but do not quite fit my needs:

  • Tasteful: Something could be tasteful, and I could still wish I hadn't visited it.

  • Thought provoking has the same issue, as it doesn't really describe the quality of the experience.

Can I write a comma followed by an em-dash?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:14 AM PDT

We have in an 1858 court case:

"A curious doctrine this,—a singular kind of subtraction,—to subtract crime from crime, and there remains nothing but innocence."

It appears that we are no longer "allowed" to do this. But why not?

How to describe word with many syllables

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:26 AM PDT

How do we describe a word that has many syllables?

For example, what's the correct way to rewrite the sentence below?

However these names end up being very long both visually and pronunciationally.

Is "data" treated as singular or plural in formal contexts?

Posted: 27 Aug 2021 09:24 AM PDT

My non-native English speaking friend just asked me: "Data is..." or "Data are..."?

I said both but that's because I've been desensitized from reading/writing both (especially from writing code and adding quick comments).

My question: Is it acceptable to utilize either for a university paper? Or is one safer than the other (when confronted with stickler professors)?

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