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1500 questions
62
votes
12 answers
"Whatever a Russian does, they end up making the Kalashnikov gun"? Are there any similar proverbs in English?
I'm translating a Russian blog post into English and got stuck with the proverb, "Whatever a Russian does, they end up making the Kalashnikov gun." (Humorously meaning it's hard or even impossible to get past established patterns of doing…
Tatiana Zhukova
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62
votes
15 answers
If an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, how do I distinguish between the two?
I know smileys are not part of written language (yet), and any questions about them are irrelevant to linguistics and are kind of not serious. So take my question with a smiley then.
It bugs me every time I'm facing this situation: if an insertion…
mojuba
- 1,089
62
votes
7 answers
What happened to the “ch” in moschito?
Mosquito > Moschito > Mosquito
/məˈskito/ — [mɒˈskiːtəʊ], [məˈskiːtəʊ], [mɒˈskitoʊ], [məˈskitoʊ]
The name of this insect is spelled with the letters ‹qu› in several languages, including Catalan mosquit, Spanish mosquito, French moustique, Galician…
Mari-Lou A
- 91,183
62
votes
4 answers
When should a verb be followed by a gerund instead of an infinitive / to-infinitive?
Some verbs are followed by ing, e.g. I enjoy swimming. We can't say I enjoy to swim. Likewise, some verbs are followed by to, e.g. I decided to make a plan.
Which particular verbs are followed by ing and to? Can you please provide a list for…
Mehper C. Palavuzlar
- 35,654
62
votes
9 answers
What do you call a minor flaw in a work that makes you realize how perfect/flawless it is otherwise?
For example, I was listening to an audio book the other day and the author mispronounced a word which got the audience laughing. Until that point, I didn't even know that there was an audience and that the whole thing was a live recording.
Another…
pixelperfect
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62
votes
23 answers
Are there any "fake" French words used in English?
Are there any "fake" French words used in English? By "fake French" I mean words that are of French origin but are not actually correct French. This could happen if the word changes as it becomes adopted by English speakers. "Fake" may not be the…
Adrian
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62
votes
15 answers
Is "certainly possible" an oxymoron?
The phrase "certainly possible" is fairly common, but it strikes me as an oxymoron. Is it?
Wad Cheber
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62
votes
4 answers
How is "deque" commonly pronounced?
deque is a standard container in the C++ programming language. Its name stands for Double Ended QUEue. I am wondering how this word should be pronounced:
like deck (this is how I've pronounced it so far)
like dequeue
like Dee-Ee-queue
I realize…
Armen Ծիրունյան
- 17,751
62
votes
17 answers
What is the English equivalent to the Chinese/Japanese saying, “塞翁失馬— Life is like Old Sai’s horse”?
Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, 2012 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, the initiator of all-around (iPS) cells told a recently-held public symposium, quote:
“I’m often asked by many people: ‘You are happy that you've won the Nobel
Prize, aren’t…
Yoichi Oishi
- 70,211
62
votes
8 answers
"My personal opinion is..." Is it always pointless to use the words "personal" and "personally"?
Is this kind of redundancy acceptable in both speech and writing, formal and informal ? Would the following sentences have their meaning changed if we omitted "personal" or "personally" ? Would they lose anything at all ?
She is a personal…
Centaurus
- 50,047
62
votes
3 answers
What is the difference between "proven" and "proved"?
"Proven" and "proved" both seem to mean the same thing. Are there any differences in meaning or usage between them?
vonjd
- 3,669
62
votes
10 answers
What is the difference between "gender" and "sex"?
What is the difference between gender and sex? Wiktionary says that gender is The mental analog of sex but that's too high English for me.
Basically, I'm developing a web-application that stores people's profile along with a field for gender/sex.…
62
votes
6 answers
Should I use a semicolon or a dash to connect two closely related sentences?
When you want to connect two closely related sentences, you can use a semicolon or a dash. (You can also use a dash for other kinds of non-sentential relations). How would you choose whether to use a semicolon or dash?
nohat
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61
votes
3 answers
61
votes
4 answers
When are "because", "since","for" and "as" interchangeable?
I am not a native speaker. On a previous question of mine, I thanked for an answer by saying:
So the phrase is not an idiom, since it is applied in its literal sense.
I consciously chose since over because, because — well, I like that usage of…
HomoLu
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