This tag is for questions related to the English language as used in the United States of America.
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world’s native speakers of English live in the United States.
In Australian English, we'd refer to using feet, inches, pounds, ounces and the like as "imperial units". In everyday conversation, do Americans refer to their non-metric units as "imperial", even though it's slightly different to the non-metric…
President Obama in a press conference, in London today, has said that if Britain votes to leave the European Union and makes separate application to the United States for a trade deal, she will be at the "back of the queue", behind the EU.
Some…
I was just having an email conversation with 3 of my community advisors and they said "We love you". I found that weird?
The community advisors teach me about how to behave in America and what the culture is in America and so on. They're government…
Possible Duplicate:
Should I say “Your order is now complete” or “Your order is now completed”?
What is better, "complete" or "completed"?
I want to know which sounds the most encouraging. Which of these two promotes more of an elation or…
This still strikes me as odd, even after 12 years in the US. Being out of luck is a bad thing, but lucked out is a good thing, e.g. we 'lucked out' and were able to get two extra tickets for the show. Any idea why?
What are the percentages of the parts of speech in English?
For instance, what percent of English is comprised of nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.?
I have done an extensive web search using a variety of formulations of the question but cannot find…
I have a book that explains how to speak in standard American English (American Accent Training — Barron's).
What does the term standard American English refer to?
Is there a region in the United States of America that has a pronunciation similar,…
What is the origin and/or original meaning of the joke when somebody gives an out-of-place "Yes" answer to a specific question?
Examples:
Engineer: "How large should the rims be on the new model?"
Audi: "Yes"
Buddy: "How much weed are you taking…
I'm writing about a concept that I would like to explain at three levels: high-level, medium, and very granular.
"Fifty-thousand foot view" is a common business idiom to describe the highest, most general level. (I've also heard 10K and 30K feet.) …
I hear from people greet saying "howdy". I guess that is short form of how do you do. I normally reply that "I am good and how are you doing?". Is there cultural specific reply that would give more appropriate meaning and value to the person who…
I'm currently working on a review checklist of a technical document in the context of regulatory compliance (medical devices if that matters) which will serve as a record of the review activities. A common element of such a review checklist/record…
Last week I was attending a communications training program. The trainer said that the term 'come again' has sexual meaning in American English. I was surprised as I have seen many Americans using the term in movies and meetings. Is there any…
What is it called when a noun, that is part of a person, is described by a human's behavior ?
For example, "rebellious" hair:
Rebelliousness is a adjective for human action but frequently used to describe frizzy hair.
Another example, "stubborn"…
