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1500 questions
51
votes
12 answers
Term for being unable to see glaring errors after working for some time on a task?
Back in the day, I used to do a lot of CAD drafting.
There is a well known phenomena whereby your ability to see mistakes, errors, omissions or plain nonsense in your drawing diminishes sharply after working more than a couple of hours on the same…
hlecuanda
- 790
51
votes
7 answers
Why is "You’ve brought a knife to a gun fight" considered to be a mixed metaphor?
In my reading today, I came across this phrase:
Pardon the mixed metaphor, but you’ve brought a knife to a gun fight. [Link]
The (longtime) columnist was saying the person was outmatched. I understand that "gunfight" for a conflict is a metaphor,…
anongoodnurse
- 55,278
51
votes
1 answer
"Dieing" vs "dying"
Which is the formally correct spelling, dieing or dying? Is there any history of the alternative spelling? I type dieing naturally, but my spellchecker marks it wrong. This is largely an etymology question in the development of the spelling of the…
David Souther
- 629
51
votes
5 answers
Usage and origin of "sister" in expressions like "sister company, sister ship, sister site" etc
The term sister is often used figuratively to refer, for instance, to a “sister company” for a company within the same group, or to a “sister site” for sites that belong to the same family. This connotation as explained by the Cambridge…
user66974
51
votes
7 answers
Mimsy were the Borogoves - why is "mimsy" an adjective?
I'm reading Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass" and I've found a famous poem Jabberwocky:
Twas bryllyg, and the slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves;
And the mome raths outgrabe.
I've read some…
Amir
- 687
51
votes
5 answers
Why do we say "under the grill", not "above" or "on" the grill?
I found this sentence in a textbook. It's
I cooked the fish slowly on / under the grill.
According to the author, the correct answer is under.
I also used Google. It turns out that there is more under the grill than on the grill. When I think of…
Yuyu ZENG
- 631
51
votes
16 answers
What do you call a person who uses vulgar words too often?
Is there a word which has this definition:
usage of vulgar or abusive words too often especially while chatting or talking to someone or while giving a speech.
What do you call a person who uses abusive words too often without needing to.
Xlam
- 841
51
votes
6 answers
What is the difference between "illicit" and "illegal"?
What is the difference between "illicit" and "illegal"? Are they just synonymous? Used in different contexts?
719016
- 4,439
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- 99
51
votes
7 answers
Is "used in anger" a Britishism for something?
On a different board, someone referred to a computer language that had achieved popularity beyond the academic world as "used in anger", the way a shot fired in combat instead of on the practice range is said to be "fired in anger". A Google search…
Michael Lorton
- 28,092
51
votes
5 answers
When did men start to lose their "virginity"?
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word virgin came from 2 languages:
Anglo-French and Old French virgine "virgin; Virgin Mary"
From Latin virginem (nominative virgo) "maiden, unwedded girl or woman"
It seems clear to me that it…
user140086
51
votes
5 answers
What is a suitable word to describe a place where two rivers meet?
I've googled for a while and on some sites I've found the word "watershed" as the proposed word. Is it the word that best suits it?
mannyee
- 583
51
votes
4 answers
Why doesn't "its" have an apostrophe?
I know that its is the possessive and it's is the contraction, and know when to use them. But why doesn't the possessive have an apostrophe?
"The bear's eating a fish." [contraction]
"The bear's coat is brown." [possessive]
"It's eating a fish."…
endolith
- 658
51
votes
10 answers
Is there a word similar to "reddening" for the color blue?
In planetary astronomy often the "color" of an object is described by relative
amount of reflected light in the blue versus the red part of the spectrum. If
something reflects light equally at all wavelengths it is "grey", if it reflects
more light…
Karen
- 527
51
votes
10 answers
Is it "alright" or "allright"?
In practice I find both spellings being used. From a logical point of view, "allright" (as in: "all's right — everything is fine") seems correct. However, I recall hearing that "alright" is the preferable variant.
Is there consensus over which to…
mafu
- 4,449
51
votes
6 answers
Is "evidence" countable?
As a native English speaker, I am often asked by friends and colleagues to correct their manuscripts. One of the most common mistakes I find is the use of the noun evidences. Now, the dictionary definitions I have read state that evidence is a mass…
terdon
- 21,559