Friday, October 29, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Information on the word 'scower'

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 09:16 AM PDT

I swear I've heard, and read the phrase before.

  • "He scowered the land, far and wide".

I have used the word many times, but recently someone said to me that it isn't a word. There is

  • scour (1) clean or brighten the surface of (something) by rubbing it hard, typically with an abrasive or detergent. [Lexico]

But that wasn't the definition I was looking for. I finally found

  • scour (2) search and search for something or someone.

This was obviously the sense I was looking for, but I wanted more information and YourDictionary gave me this:

  • scower [obsolete] Alternative form of scour [verb]

I would like some more explanation on this. Please and thanks.

Edit: Why is the word 'obsolete' as well as not being more widely used?

What does "to bland sth up" mean? [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:46 AM PDT

I've recently heard somebody said "They are going to want to bland it up, make it appeal to America", but I haven't gotten the meaning of "bland up".

I know the meaning of "bland", and I know it's a noun.

What does "to bland sth up" mean?

What is the meaning of "capoon cutcheny"?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:45 AM PDT

While researching the Treaty of Wanghia between the US and China, I saw the Product "capoon cutcheny" in the drugs section of the tariff table. Since I am neither an English nor a Chinese native speaker, I thought googling might help. Interestingly, the exact term only appeared five times, all either this treaty or in reference to it. By researching both words I found that "capoon" means castrated rooster, but I did not find any reference to "cutcheny" other than in this Treaty or as a last name. Does anybody have any idea what it means?

If you could only pick 10-20 words or phrases to tide you over in everyday conversations, what would they be? [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 07:49 AM PDT

Some background - I have a Halloween costume that is covering my face, but it has a scrolling matrix of LEDs where I can program short phrases and change them from my phone. I have room for 24 phrases, but I have a couple already used (Happy Halloween, etc.)

What could I use to keep a conversation going using only the LED matrix? Thanks in advance! Sorry if this isn't the proper channel for this type of question.

Joseph Campbell's use of "inform" [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 07:10 AM PDT

In the Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said:

It takes me back to a time when these spiritual principles informed the society. You can tell what's informing a society by what the tallest building is. When you approach a medieval town, the cathedral is the tallest thing in the place. When you approach an eighteenth-century town, it is the political palace that's the tallest thing in the place. And when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centers of economic life.

Why is he using the word "inform"? From the following sentences, I suspect that, he uses «inform» to mean «shape»:

... You can tell what's [shaping] a society by what the tallest building is. When you approach a medieval town, the cathedral is the tallest thing in the place. When you approach an eighteenth-century town, it is the political palace that's the tallest thing in the place. And when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centers of economic life.

So, when the religion is shaping the society the tallest buildings are churches, and so on.

On the other hand, if he meant «shape» he could have used «shape». He must have meant «inform». So when society's knowledge came from religion, that is, when what people knew came from religion, churches were the biggest building. Did he mean this?

The problem arises, when I try to translate this to Turkish. There is a Turkish traslation of the book and they translated it like this (translating back to English):

You can tell what gives a society its character by looking at its tallest building.

So is this what Joseph Campbell meant?

if you want to understand the character of a society look at the tallest buildings.

Or does he want to emphasize information or knowledge: The dominant knowledge of the society is defined by people who build the tallest buildings?

Writing task 1 | ACADEMIC | US Energy Consumption by Fuel [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 06:52 AM PDT

Topic: enter image description here

Essay: The line graph illustrates the amount of quadrillion units energy consumed in the USA with predictations from 1980 to 2030. Overall, while three resources including Petrol and Oil, Coal and Natural Gas dramatically increase, those of other energy witness 5 decades of stability.

Petrol and Oil is the resource that was consumed the highest amount of quadrillion units throughout the timescale and was two times more than Coal and Natural Gas in 1890. In the first 28 years of the timescale, the Petrol and Oil energy underwent a period of unstability from 30 to 40 quadrillion units before continuing to rise significantly to 50 quadrillion units in 2030. Similarly, the Natural Gas energy consumed saw a changable stage of 35 years between 1890 and 2015 until being surpassed by Coal at 17 quadrillion units in 1990, after which being predicted to remain stable at 25 quadrillion units for the last time of timescale. Likewise, Coal markedly climbe from 15 to 30 quadrillion units during 5 decades and become the second preferred energy resource after Petrol and Oil.

By contrast, the consumption of Nuclear, Solar/ Wind and Hydropower vary insignificantly from 4 to 6 quadrillion units for all the time of the timescale and became the most unpopular resources. After 50 years, the Petrol and Oil still is preferred than other energy resources and be twice times more than Natural Gas in 2030.

How can I change this question into a statement while trying not to omit any words? [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:11 AM PDT

Q: What is the right time to exercise?
A: What the right time to exercise is.

Is it okay to end the statement with is? If not, how do I accurately convert this question to a statement without omitting words? The other option is "The right time to exercise" but that removes a word.

Other examples from the exercise are:
Q: Why is the moon moving away?
A: Why the moon is moving away

Q: What can you do to protect yourself from coronavirus?
A: What you can do to protect yourself from the coronavirus.

Difference between stagnation and saturation? [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:02 AM PDT

Are these two sentences the same?

The quantity of interest stagnates at a high level.

The quantity of interest saturates at a high level.

Meaning of "mapped as" in context

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 03:47 AM PDT

Recently I come across the following sentence:

The "Ship Date" is mapped as the "Current Date" for the order.

It was part of my task as a software developer, the context is that I need to set values from one cell to another in a table.

I interpreted it as: set "Ship date" with the value of "current date".

But turned out that the native speaker who wrote this meant: set "current date" with the value of "Ship date".

For me it looks strange, can you explain in terms of grammar how it works?

Is the negation "if not that, then something" correct? [migrated]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:24 AM PDT

As in the question, if I answer someone for example "if not that coat, then I'd not recognize you" is that correct? I understand that there are other forms like "if it wasn't for that coat...", just wondering about this one specific form.

Difference between 'do so' and 'do' without the 'so' [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 01:54 AM PDT

I understand that when I wish to repeat an infinitive form of the verb, it's correct to use 'to do so'.

For example, He wished to leave the house party, and I wanted to (do so) as well. Here simply using the 'do' without a 'so' would be odd, although I understand one can totally omit the 'do so' altogether, in this context.

My question is if the replacement verb doesn't have an infinitive component, is there any (formal vs informal or in terms of usage) difference between 'do' and 'do so'?

I present two sentences below:

  1. Historical evidence provides clues for determining when birds evolved and how they did so. (Vs) – I understand this can be written more concisely as 'when and how they evolved', but this isn't my query.

  2. The same sentence with the 'did so' replaced by 'did' –... when birds evolved and how they did.

Would there be any formal/grammatical differences between the two structures? Also, in what other contexts is 'do/did', etc., incorrect and 'do/did so' is correct and vice versa? Many thanks!

Pronunciation issues with words that start or end up with (th) [migrated]

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 07:25 PM PDT

I've a trouble when trying to link the clusters in bold

s + th(θ) => this thing | nice things | what's that |

s + th(ð) => guess the check | since that

z + th(θ) => is thick

z + th(ð) => how is the | is this | was there

th(ð) + s => with someone

th(θ) + s => Earth's atmosphere

Is it correct to say "My friends have been a great influence on me, and I on them" [closed]

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:16 PM PDT

Is it grammatically correct to say "My friends have been a great influence on me, and I on them"?

Word for person who is boastful about knowing something was going to happen

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 07:31 PM PDT

It seems like there is a gap in the English language here. The closest I can think of is a combination of "hipster" and "braggart". Let's call it a "bragster" for the purpose of this question. I notice this behaviour is becoming increasingly common in a world of instant, but voluminous information. Often the bragster's claim on prior knowledge can be called into question. A couple of examples:

A band becomes famous after a few false starts, a person who likes them because of their latest track or similar says to the bragster "Wow, have you heard of BandX? They are awesome!", where the bragster would respond with "BandX! I have been listening to them for a long time, their early stuff was much better, finally people recognise them". "Oh really, what is their early work like?". Bragster: "Better! (but I can't think of why right now)".

A financial crisis occurs. The Bragster claims "I knew that would happen, it's because of situationY. I have been saying it was going to happen for years". "Oh really? I never heard you say anything?". Bragster: "Oh, I didn't think you were interested so never said anything".

I guess "braggart" fits, but in a world where the internet exists, this has become much more common to claim to have prior knowledge of current or future events. This could also work as an adjective describing a behaviour as "bragstering" (which obviously is terrible, but you get the idea).

Is there a single word that means "almost certainly (but not technically 100%)"?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 07:41 AM PDT

I'm looking for a single word that means "almost certainly" but leaves room for 'technical' or 'philosophical' doubt. That is, something like 99.99999...% certain. Or "close enough to certain that we don't need to get hung up on it".

  • probably doesn't work because it just means over 50% – way too low.
  • indubitably doesn't work because it literally means "undoubtable", i.e. its definition explicitly excludes the possibility of any doubt.
  • definitely, certainly, doubtless – strictly speaking, these do not allow for any doubt either (even though they are often used in casual speech for things that aren't truly certain). I want a word that, when used precisely and literally according to its dictionary definition, perhaps in a philosophical/technical/engineering context, actually means "certain, except for the usual 0.00000...1% doubt".

The word should acknowledge a shade of doubt without getting stuck on it, if that makes sense. I don't know if such a word exists, but it seems odd to me if it doesn't, as it seems like it would be very useful in epistemological and engineering discussions.

I guess "beyond reasonable doubt" is a common phrase that means roughly what I want, but I'm wondering if there is a word that (a) is a single word or simple compound, and (b) is used in more of a philosophical/technical/engineering/critical thinking context than a legal one.

Grant insight into

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:22 AM PDT

What is an adjective that describes a thing that grants insight into a topic?

the point is ___

Not "insightful" because that means showing insight, but more like "educational" except specifically for insight (perhaps intuition).

Am I interpreting the sentence correctly?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 03:05 AM PDT

I'm having trouble understanding the bolded sentence in the following paragraph.

The use of enslaved laborers was affirmed — and its continual growth was promoted — through the creation of a Virginia law in 1662 that decreed that the status of the child followed the status of the mother, which meant that enslaved women gave birth to generations of children of African descent who were now seen as commodities. This natural increase allowed the colonies — and then the United States — to become a slave nation. The law also secured wealth for European colonists and generations of their descendants, even as free black people could be legally prohibited from bequeathing their wealth to their children.

Source: New York Times (paywalled)

Here's what I think the sentence means: The law also secured wealth for European colonists and generations of their descendants because free black people could be legally prohibited from bequeathing their wealth to their children.

However, I couldn't find any source that stated that "even as" meant "because," although "as" can mean "because".

According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, "even as" means "at the very same time as." The law also secured wealth for European colonists and generations of their descendants, at the same time as free black people could be legally prohibited from bequeathing their wealth to their children.

This latter sentence doesn't seem as logical to me as the former interpretation. Any help is appreciated.

How to differentiate the usage of "number" in situations that "number" represents "index" and "quantity" respectively

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:04 AM PDT

Number has both meaning of "index" and "quantity". I am often confused by this in writing sentences such as:

  1. The conversion between the number of books and total pages is simple. (quantity)
  2. The number of book on that shelf is 5 counting from left. (index)

My questions are:

  1. Is the second sentence grammatically correct?
  2. How to discriminate these two scenarios?

UPDATE:

According to this dictionary, number can be used as "position in series" or "quantity". For sentence:

Room number is 5

Is that correct to turn this statement into questions like:

what is the number of room? (what position)

As Stuart comments: "Using singular vs plural indicates whether you're talking about book number 5 or five books.", if I want to question the quantity of rooms, should I say:

what is the number of rooms? (what quantity)

Can the word, “whammy” be used for good news?

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:23 PM PDT

I found the following headline in today's (May 11) New York Times:

"Triple whammy of good news led by Coronavirus Hopes catapult Dow more than 900 points."

I was under impression that the usage of "whammy" is limited to bad news. For example, Oxford Advanced learners English Dictionary defines "whammy as:

an unpleasant situation with an event that causes problems for somebody or something.

Likewise, Cambridge online English Dictionary defines "whammy" as:

a magical spell or power that causes someone to have a difficult or unpleasant time.

Can "whammy" be used for good news, like a prediction of a jump in the stock market?

Better word and abbreviation for single month instead of year-to-date

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 09:05 AM PDT

In a report I would like to switch between a view which shows year-to-date figures, for example January 100, February 210, March 330 and a view which shows single month figures, in this example January 100, February 11o, March 120.

I am curious wether there is a common expression for single month and an abbreviation for it, like YTD is common for year-to-date.

Word for someone using their fame to push their personal agenda

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 01:03 AM PDT

single word to describe someone famous who uses their fame to push their personal agenda. Example is sports or entertainment celebs pushing their political/environmental/equal rights agenda

Ed (a famous sportsman) is a xxxxxxxxxx for using his fame to promote his political views

I have done many searches revolving around one using their position to advance their personal agenda. The closest word I've found is opportunist - although that doesn't seem to describe the extra influence that fame contributes to it.

Why are phonewords called vanity numbers?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 05:26 AM PDT

A vanity number is a local or toll-free telephone number for which a subscriber requests an easily remembered sequence of numbers for marketing purposes.

While many of these are phonewords (such as 1-800-Flowers, 313-DETROIT, 1-800-Taxicab or 1-800-Battery), occasionally all-numeric vanity phone numbers are used.

Accorging to Google Books the expression is from the late '80s but why 'vanity'?

Is vanity number the more common expression to refer to these often used numeric/alphanumeric numbers?

Is it only AmE usage or is it used also in British or other English dialects?

What word is the opposite of "plagiarism", trying to pass off your own work as that of others?

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 08:11 PM PDT

Assume that I'm citing a piece of poetry and I claim that it's from Shakespeare, when in fact it's my own. Is there a term for that? I'm interested in this exact meaning of a word "opposite" to plagiarism, not in a word for being original or being a donor for plagiarism.

Categorization vs classification [closed]

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 07:42 AM PDT

I'm doing categorization/classification in the context of creating catalogs of programming libraries. I'm repeatedly hesitating as to which term I should use.

What are the nuances in which both terms differ?

A word for "people who were born on the same day from different mothers"

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:57 AM PDT

What could be a word for people who are born on the same day but are not siblings?

I am creating a website and matching my college students who were born on same day. I need an appropriate or the closest equivalent word in English to describe that situation. A word or short expression that I could use as its domain name.

I'm not expecting the exact word for this situation, but at the very least it should be an appropriate and acceptable one, even a short phrase will do but its meaning must be comprehensible to visitors to the website.

I need a single word or combination of two words that should be very catchy for the audience.

Can anyone help?

2nd verb form in a sentence

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 06:13 AM PDT

I need to know which one is correct:

  1. I did not start working on this Project yet.
  2. I did not Start work on this Project yet.

I am with 1.

Please guide.

Is "receival" a valid word for the act of receiving something?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 08:36 AM PDT

In the course of reviewing a standard operating procedure, I came across the subheading: "Receival, Costing and Charging of Work".

I immediately began to doubt whether the word "receival" was a legitimate equivalent to the noun "receipt", as in: receipt of samples...

My gut feeling is that use of "receival" in place of the word "receipt", as above, is either outmoded/archaic, or entirely incorrect.

Several Google searches of the word tend to confirm my suspicion that "receival" is used very rarely these days, and generally only occurs as a noun modifier. (For example: receival bin, receival limits, Grain Receival Standards.)

Am I correct in assuming that "receival" should not be used as a post-qualified* noun, such as in: receival of work?

*(I just made up that compound adjective; feel free to correct me if you are aware of the proper term.)

"May" & "Might": What's the right context?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 03:59 AM PDT

  • I may not be coming in tomorrow...
  • I might not be coming in tomorrow...

When should I use "may" and when should I use "might"?

The plural of "index"–"indexes" or "indices"?

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:31 AM PDT

A table may have one index, or it could have more [...]?

Is it indexes or indices? I'm just asking this because I've noticed they're both used quite often. Even Wikipedia seems to support both variants (as in this article). Though a raw Google search would seem to indicate an overall preference for indices.

"indexes" - Google search

"indices" - Google search

Simply put, which is the preferred plural?
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