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1500 questions
70
votes
5 answers

When does thousand turn into thousands?

My boyfriend and I are arguing whether thousands of miles means 1000+ or 2000+ miles. The first argument is that 1000+ is over 1000 and therefore 'thousands of miles' by rounding up. The other argument is that thousands are a unit, and if you only…
Rachel
  • 513
70
votes
19 answers

Word for someone who really has their act together

Is there a word for someone who really has their act together? Someone who has their time well-managed, is focused, works out, has ambitions, eats right, etc. Not necessarily successful, but there's a kind of trait that leads to it, that I can't…
user50210
69
votes
1 answer

"All but" idiom has two meanings?

Here's two ways I've seen the "all, but" idiom used: "Close all tabs but this one" (Any modern application with a number of tabs might have this as an option.) It means "close all the tabs, but not this one". "With that goal, the championship is all…
Carlos
  • 5,915
69
votes
4 answers

When should end punctuation go inside quotes?

I have been/am being taught that end punctuation should always go inside quotes. For example, you are supposed to write: Marvin thought it was "awful." The problem is I do not see how does this make sense. Intuitively, I always wrote: Marvin…
houbysoft
  • 1,261
69
votes
5 answers

"In the Internet" vs. "on the Internet"

When should I use "in the Internet" and when "on the Internet"?
bootleg
  • 1,153
69
votes
4 answers

Is there a term for the type of misleading joke comedians such as Stephen Colbert often use?

The Late Show host, Stephen Colbert (an American talk show host, don't mind that, just think of him as some random guy you don't have to care about) quite often uses a type of joke whereby he describes one thing to mislead you, then name the other…
Vun-Hugh Vaw
  • 5,400
69
votes
4 answers

What does “l. s. d.” stand for?

Here is the original text from Lord Macaulay’s History of England: They are the men of double entry, magnifying routine. In business they have added mechanical device to mechanical device, they have put wind, water, steam, and electricity into…
George Chen
  • 1,210
69
votes
6 answers

"Josephine, Schmosephine"

I recently watched A Series Of Unfortunate Events, and I was puzzled by the expression "Josephine, Schmosephine". The narrator explains that when you don't care about something or someone, you repeat their name, changing the first syllable by…
RichouHunter
  • 1,394
69
votes
7 answers

Is "substract" (versus "subtract") a proper word?

I read an article recently where the author used "substract" instead of "subtract". I'm more familiar with the latter word but after doing a bit of googling, it seems that both words are being used, although "subtract" seems more mainstream than…
Jonn
  • 2,414
69
votes
6 answers

What's the difference between using single and double quotation marks/inverted commas?

I'm quite unsure regarding the usage of single quotation marks (') and double quotation marks (") in English. I had thought that double quotation marks were usually used to quote sentences from passages/given sources, nouns/things ("Westminster…
JFW
  • 4,767
69
votes
27 answers

Polite alternative for "none of your business"

It seems it's rude and impolite to say directly to someone "none of your business". So, what's the more gentle alternative(s) for situations in which we should say "hey, this is none of your business!"?
Eilia
  • 5,469
69
votes
4 answers

What is the purpose of using the word "automagically" when we already have "automatically"?

Is there a difference between the two? I see it used regularly in the tech community to mean automatically. Has the word been adopted into any recognised dictionary? For example: That was the day I officially stopped caring what version Chrome…
Treffynnon
  • 931
68
votes
7 answers

How come 'ou' was reduced to 'o' in the US?

Americans write color and favorite, when others say colour and favourite. How/why did this happen?
tshepang
  • 1,383
68
votes
14 answers

How to avoid ambiguity in "I am renting an apartment in New York"?

Does the sentence: I am renting an apartment in New York. imply that I am the landlord or the tenant? How can I unequivocally communicate that I am the tenant (or the landlord)?
Amelio Vazquez-Reina
  • 2,005
68
votes
5 answers

Difference between "I have got" and "I have gotten"

I see these two expressions are used almost identically in different contexts. Is there a difference between I have got and I have gotten?
Anderson Silva
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