Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

An extension of the term 'anthropomorphism' to 'cultural anthropomorphism', or is there a better term?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 10:32 AM PDT

We are perhaps familiar with the definition of 'anthropomorphism' as the assignment of human characteristics and culture to animals, or perhaps to gods.

Something that is happening more and more in the zeitgeist today, in our multinational world, is the assignment of the properties of one culture to another, and therefore treating that culture as if it were identical to your own. Sort of the inevitable result of the application of the Golden Rule - "Do onto others as you would have then do onto you'. If their culture is entirely different from yours, they might not WANT you to treat them the way you want to be treated. Individual respect vs. family respect, for instance. One culture might believe that treating you as an individual separate from your family is important, and another culture might consider that an individual should ALWAYS supplicate to notions of family respect and family integrity. I have posited that the Golden Rule should be 'Do onto others the way they want you to do onto them', requiring you to understand their culture, and treat them according to their culture, not try to force them to work within your culture.

It seems to me that recognizing the issue of imposing one's cultural perspective on a different culture, and thereby leading to misunderstandings, is becoming more and more important, particularly with the rise of many other non-Western cultures to the same economic stature as the West, and the inevitable Thucydides Paradox.

I am thinking especially about the tendency of the West to treat South Asia as if they had the same ideals of freedom and social responsibility as the West. Treating South Asia as if it's population had identical goals to that of America can only lead to tremendous friction and total lack of any basis for mutual understanding.

But before we can have a common dialogue over the problem, we need to have clearly recognized and understood terms for it. My argument has been that lacking any other term, this in fact should be referred to as 'cultural anthropomorphism' - the imposing of the characteristics of one's own culture onto another, so as to not have to understand the other culture. The English language has always demonstrated a capacity for 'evolving' one term to meet newer requirements, when an existing term does not seem to be adequate.

Thus the question, "Is there a recognized term for the process of attributing and projecting the characteristics of one culture onto another such that the other culture is completely misrepresented, or in fact would the term 'cultural anthropomorphizing' suffice?"

In point of fact, I want to acknowledge that intentionally comparing all other cultures to your culture, and then assuming that any cultural differences are due to the other culture being inferior to your culture, is the inherent basis of racism. I am wiling to consider that there is too much bag-and-baggage culturally assigned to the term 'anthropomorphising' to preclude this. Yet I hardly think attributing human characteristics to a god, or assigning the characteristics of a god to humans, is necessarily degrading, as much as it is narcissistic. Can a term evolve beyond its existing bag-and-baggage?

Certainly the term 'decimate' has left its bag-and-baggage behind a long time ago.

Which form of have shoud I use [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 10:17 AM PDT

Which one of those would be correct:

I need to recall what I have understood back then

I need to recall what I had understood back then

I need to recall what I understood back then

I'm trying to say that I understood something in the past, no longer understand it now, but I need to understand that again

A vocabulary exercise [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:23 AM PDT

  1. I've got an a--e-g- . Every time I go near an animal I sneeze.
  2. Ow! This -o-t- -l-e is really painful. Every time I eat something it hurts.
  3. Look at my hands. They're really red and sore. Do you think it's --z-m-?
  4. Breathe in. Breathe out. Hmm, yes, you've got some kind of ---s- infection.
  5. I'm not lazy. I just have a problem with -v--s--e--n- in the mornings!
  6. Summer's nearly here. I guess my -a- -e-e- will start soon and I'll be sneezing all day.

"is lack" or "is a lack"?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:16 AM PDT

Are there any differences between the uses/meanings of "is lack" and "is a lack" for example in the following?

There is a lack of interest in the topic.
There is lack of research on the subject.

Conditionals in English

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:17 AM PDT

What's the difference between these three sentences?

  1. If you hadn't accepted my offer, I would have talked to someone else.
  2. If you hadn't accepted my offer, I was going to talk to someone else.
  3. If you didn't accept my offer, I was going to talk to someone else.

I just am not sure if the second sentence is grammatically valid, and if it's valid what it actually implies and how's it different from the other two sentences.

Definite article with noun referring to something not satisfying definition

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:35 AM PDT

Consider the following phrase:

The airplane is missing its wings

Given that wings are part of the definition of an airplane, why is it correct to use "the airplane" to refer to an airplane without wings?

One word for a person who became fool [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 06:54 AM PDT

What to say to a person in one word who became fool by someone?

What Writing Style Warhammer-40K Does Use? [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 06:48 AM PDT

I've always thought that there are different writing styles, but not sure if each one has a name. Like when you write an article for a newspaper is not the same as writing a letter to a friend.

Recently, I started playing Warhammer-40K, and the writing style in this game keeps amaze me. After doing a quick search, turned out that there's an entire series about that.

That said, I'd really appreciate if someone can name this writing style and if there are books out there that teach it.

Below is an excerpt from a document you find in the game:

An Interrogator will visit you shortly with detailed information. Should you fail to comply with my orders, the Commissariat will learn everything about your recent endeavors. If my messenger is harmed, I will personally torture you to death. Nothing personal, but my authority needs to be respected even by self-righteous outlaws like you.

I'll attach the coordinates of the location where you have to deliver the hostage.

p.s: I attached my Binary Rosette if you still have doubts about my identity. Use it wisely. Or even better: don't use it at all unless absolutely crucial.

Is it actually appropriate to use "unconditional" with terms such as love and nothingness? [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 06:21 AM PDT

At times, I see terms such as unconditional love and unconditional nothing. I'm not a native English speaker so the combination of these terms such as "unconditional" with "love" and "nothing" confused me. I tried looking up on the definition of condition on some online dictionaries such as Wiktionary, and it means : a requirement, a clause in agreement, state or rank if someone used them as a noun.

If the term condition is used as a verb it means : subject to the process of acclimation, subject to different conditions especially as an exercise, to make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled, to place conditions or limitations upon, to shape the behaviour of someone to do something, to treat (the hair) with hair conditioner, to contract; to stipulate; to agree, to test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains), (US, colleges, transitive) to put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college and finally to impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/condition

Now my question is what does the term "condition" have to do with "love" or "nothing"? Is there a "condition" where love is like that or like this? Similarly, is there a "condition" where nothingness is like that or like this?

If unconditional love actually means never-ending love then the term "never-ending" is much more suitable and certainly more understandable for non-native English speakers, and if unconditional nothing is the same as absolute nothing then using the term "absolute" is much more appropriate than using "unconditional".

Verb tenses - past simple or present perfect [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 05:50 AM PDT

We have a problem with your latest delivery - it ARRIVED 3 days late again. We have a problem with your latest delivery - it HAS ARRIVED 3 days late again.

Which tense is correct?

What's the difference between cahoots and collude

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 05:03 AM PDT

They seem similar to me.

Collins Dictionary

in cahoots

If you say that one person is in cahoots with another, you do not trust the first person because you think that they are planning something secretly with the other.

collude

If one person colludes with another, they co-operate with them secretly or illegally.

Oxford Dictionary

cahoots

to be planning or doing something dishonest with somebody else

collude

to work together secretly or illegally in order to trick other people collude (with somebody) (in something/in doing something) Several people had colluded in the murder. collude (with somebody) (to do something) They colluded with terrorists to overthrow the government.

Macmillan Dictionary

cahoots

secretly involved with someone in a dishonest activity or plan-

collude

to work secretly with someone to do something dishonest

Subject-verb Concord [duplicate]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

  1. I, John, is speaking with you.
  2. I, John, am speaking with you.

What are the comparative/superlative forms of the adjective "well," meaning "in good health"?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 05:34 AM PDT

If I can say, "He is well," meaning, "He is in good health," how do I express that he's in better health, or that he's in the best health ever? "He's weller"? "He's more well"? Those both sound strange to me.

Or do the adjectives "well" and "good" re-converge in the comparative? In other words, do "better" and "best" cover the meaning of the adjective "well" also?

Interestingly, "wellest" and "most well" sound more acceptable to me than do "weller" or "more well." For example, "This is the wellest I've been all year," sounds alright to my ears (I think...).

Is it gramatically correct to say "This episode brought to you by ___" without "is"?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 03:45 AM PDT

In some youtube videos, I keep hearing the sentence

This episode brought to you by [insert sponsor name here]

Shouldn't it be:

This episode is brought to you by ......

Pick them up or pick up them? [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 03:23 AM PDT

I can't figure out with these two but pick them up it's more likely to be correct

Why is it "hats off" and not "hat's off"?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 02:26 AM PDT

Miriam-Webster has a page for "hats off to" to indicate praise and uses the example "Hats off to Susan for doing such a great job".

I'm surprised that it's not "Hat's off to" as in "Hat is off to". Without the apostrophe it looks like there are multiple hats.

What's the explanation for the expression being without an apostrophe?

Can I say "I scare of dog" instead of "I am scared of dog "? [migrated]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 02:07 AM PDT

I have a big problem with this concept. what is different between "I scare of dogs" and "I am scared of dogs" since scare means "to become frightened" can you help me, please?

Is there a word for when something is both simulatneously true and untrue? [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 10:00 AM PDT

Is there a word for when something is both simulatneously true and not true? I will use this word to describe a situation.

Deleted question [closed]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 10:12 AM PDT

This question has been deleted.

Is "600% smaller" correct use of percentages?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:15 AM PDT

"600% smaller when compared to GIF"

This doesn't make sense. I can understand 600% larger (it is 6 times larger), but not 600% smaller. If it is acceptable English, what does it mean? 1/6 the size? I am seeing this construct more and more often.

Is this a shift in tense?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 09:14 AM PDT

I'm having a problem understanding tense shifts. Take for example:

Pittsburgh Public managed to hold to this tradition once again by bringing this ageless piece of musical theater to life with freshness as well as a salute back to the days of theater past.

Why is the sentence set up in past tense with "managed" but then uses "bringing". Wouldn't this be an inappropriate tense shift?

usage of when and tense in a conditional sentence?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:00 AM PDT

There are two conditional sentences which one is more correct grammatically?

  1. When I come home, my children will be playing.
  2. When I come home, my children would be playing.

In the first sentence the when clause verb is in simple present, and the main clause in future continuous. the situation is real that the children will be playing when I reach home.

In the second sentence the when clause verb is in simple present but the main clause verb in past continuous. But how the second sentence also sounds correct?

until, up to ambiguity — < vs <= [duplicate]

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 04:08 AM PDT

So this is about (preventing) an off-by-one error in the (interpretation of) English language. I have found some similar (not duplicate) questions but I don't feel entirely comfortable yet. For context, I'm an application developer, and I want my application to be crystal clear. To that end, I've found existing answers to be unsatisfactory.

Let me give an example sentence that should explain it all.

The contract lasts from 1 January to 31 January.

The word to is ambiguous, although in this case is easily understood to be up to and including the 31st. However, it will not always be this easy! In Dutch, we have a simple solution to this ambiguity:

  • het contract duurt van 1 januari tot 1 februari (<)
  • het contract duurt van 1 januari t/m 31 januari (<=)

I want to be able to use both forms in my application, but, again, it needs to be crystal clear to the user which of the 2 is meant.

The English equivalent for t/m that first comes to mind is up to and including. However, that is just too long for my tastes compared to t/m. In Dutch, because it's so short, the ambiguity of tot is almost non-existent because laziness is not an excuse to write tot instead of t/m. I fear that some developers will write up to or until where they actually meant up to and including.

I also considered the word through, so it would be this:

  • The contract lasts from 1 January to 1 February. (<)
  • The contract lasts from 1 January through 31 January. (<=)

Is through really understood by everyone to be up to and including? Or is there an alternative, better word? Or perhaps I'm looking in the wrong direction for a solution and there's a word for to that explicitly excludes the boundary?

So again, to summarize, I'm looking for:

  • a word or phrase that unambiguously means less than
  • a word or phrase that unambiguously means less than or equals

Actions That Terminate At Present Moment

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 07:03 AM PDT

Which tense should I use for actions which terminate exactly at the present time and the final point of the action is the present moment ? Can present perfect be used for this type of situation?

Let's imagine a boy who left his house to go to his school sometime before the present time and I am a teacher standing at the door of his school now. Can I say "He has come to school" or "He came to school" at the first time he be at the borderline of the school when his coming exactly terminates at the present time and the action includes now(the present time)?

I think using past tense is not appropriate here because the action includes the present moment and using past form requires the action to locate in some past section at the timeline.

Opposite of more often than not

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 06:11 AM PDT

"More often than not" is an expression to say that an event "happens more often that it does not happen" (see https://english.stackexchange.com/a/187722/63461). How does one express the negative of this?

Less often than not?

More not often than often?

More un-often than ___?

"During this hour" vs. "In this hour"

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 05:01 AM PDT

"This took place in this hour." "This took place during this hour."

Is there any difference between the phrases "in this hour" and "during this hour"?

Preposition for "Alternative"

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 07:16 AM PDT

I've found out that there are several prepositions for the word alternative that all seem to be correct, however, I think there should be a best choice. Do these prepositions affect the meaning in some way?

For:

Ensure that the text alternative for CAPTCHA images identifies the type of task and what is required from the user to complete it

To:

This solution is far from perfect, but it is a potential alternative to Captcha nonetheless.

Of:

In this tutorial, we discussed an alternative of captcha, a plugin called GASP (Growmap Anti spambot Plugin).

Personally, as in my recent article, I do prefer to use "To" as preposition.

What is the word for bright colors such as green?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 04:49 AM PDT

What does one call these bright colors such as pink, green, or yellow? You see those in posters frequently.

"Due to" at the beginning of a sentence

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 08:14 AM PDT

I tried to say this:

Due to it will have less features than the actual standard system, the performance will be better.

Basically, I used a sentence after due to, and one of my English friends said it does not make sense and is not grammatically correct.

What is wrong with using due to at the beginning of a sentence?

How do you pronounce "would've", "should've" and "could've"?

Posted: 28 Sep 2021 01:42 AM PDT

How do you pronounce "would've", "should've" and "could've"?
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