Most Popular
1500 questions
46
votes
23 answers
What do you call the facial expression or the state just before bursting into tears?
What do you call this facial expression that forms just before bursting into tears? (Especially when a baby has been treated in a way he/she didn't expect and consider it unfair or feels neglected.
Of course this pitiful and sad expression with…
Soudabeh
- 9,217
46
votes
4 answers
Why does "orange" rhyme with (almost) nothing in English?
Joel Spolsky asked what rhymes with orange. The official answer is, "Nothing," although a creative poet can get close by using half words, just the -nge part or resorting to place names and foreign words.
Does orange somehow violate the basic…
MatthewMartin
- 2,504
46
votes
4 answers
Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name?
This happens specifically often in the technology press:
There's no point trying to ascribe motives to what Redmond [instead of "Microsoft"] does.
We'll see shortly if Cupertino [instead of "Apple"] thinks likewise ...
I'm certain its use is…
hippietrail
- 7,658
46
votes
5 answers
Who is Jesus H. Christ?
When used as an expletive, the name Jesus Christ often gets an H inserted into the middle of it for some reason. I've heard lots of guesses about what the H stands for, the most popular one being Henry, but no one seems to actually know, and I've…
JSBձոգչ
- 54,843
46
votes
10 answers
Difference between "OK" and "okay"
While typing a post on SO, I noticed that the word "ok" (when used in the sentence "I'm still learning so it is ok") was marked as misspelled (got to love spellcheck!) The first suggestion, however, confused me. The suggestion was "OK" (as opposed…
Freesnöw
- 819
- 2
- 7
- 11
46
votes
9 answers
Is there any English word in which "ph" is not pronounced as "f"?
A few days ago, a friend and I were discussing how every "rule" of English spelling or pronunciation has an exception, and every exception has an exception as well. Then I brought up the rule of a ph cluster equaling an f sound (as in phonetic,…
Nicole
- 11,828
46
votes
2 answers
Where does “ö” fall in alphabetical ordering?
Much to my surprise, I just learned that some English-language documents use the ö character. I need to know, when sorting words in an English-language document, where is ö placed?
before A?
after Z ?
before O ?
after O ?
Also, I am curious…
davidge
- 533
46
votes
5 answers
"More so" or moreso?
I often find myself using the two words joined together, moreso. I'm not sure where I picked up this usage. I'm also not sure that it's necessarily the correct one, as some proofreading tools will flag for not being a correctly-spelled word. Though…
Trey Keown
- 599
46
votes
8 answers
Oil is slippery; rubber is _____?
What's the best word (or words) to describe rubber's 'gripping' property that is the opposite of oil's slipperiness?
It's not 'rough', since rubber grips without necessarily being rough.
EmmaV
- 951
46
votes
2 answers
What's the difference between "e.g." and "ex."?
E.g. is short for exempli gratia, and is in common use to introduce an example within a sentence.
Submit a sample of academic writing, e.g., a dissertation chapter.
However, some authors use ex. or ex: (short for "example") for the same purpose,…
bcc32
- 1,365
- 3
- 11
- 21
45
votes
7 answers
Is the phrase "it's just a matter of semantics" meaningless?
I hear this phrase from time to time, and I really don't know what it means. Two people are debating, and one says "the difference between your position and mine is just a matter of semantics." This would seem to me to be quite an important…
KSwenson
- 698
- 1
- 5
- 12
45
votes
7 answers
The difference between an analogy and a metaphor?
Many a time I've asked what the difference is between an analogy and a metaphor. I've asked it to my teacher, on internet sites, to my parents, so on and so forth. I got a different answer every time, and I never fully grasped what the difference…
JohnPhteven
- 936
45
votes
5 answers
Does the quirky spelling in English actually make it easier to read?
I just finished reading the question asked by Bobnix, in which RegDwight referred to another question with an interesting answer by Kosmonaut. Kosmonaut refers to the great number of pictograms (Kanji or Hanzi) available in Japanese and Chinese, and…
Robusto
- 151,571
45
votes
2 answers
Capitalize fields of study?
Do I say "I study computer science," or "I study Computer Science"? Similarly, "I really liked that computer science course," vs. "I really liked that Computer Science course."
Claudiu
- 10,911
45
votes
2 answers
What is the origin of the word "doh" (as seen in the world's first crossword puzzle)?
The first ever crossword puzzle was written by Arthur Wynne in 1913:
Image from Wikimedia Commons
It has several clues with obscure and obsolete answers, but I was able to find all of them in dictionaries except for this one:
10-18. The fibre of…
Carmeister
- 528