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1500 questions
35
votes
13 answers
"Washroom", "restroom", "bathroom", "lavatory", "toilet" or "toilet room"
I've always been confused by the terms washroom, restroom, bathroom, lavatory, toilet and toilet room. My impression is that Canadians would rather say washroom while Americans would probably say bathroom or Saint John's in the same situation.
I…
brilliant
- 8,970
35
votes
4 answers
Why are there two pronunciations for "either"?
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an individual who told me that pronouncing the word "either" is wrong when pronounced like \ˈī-thər\ instead of \ˈē-thər\ , but I didn't argue the point because I'd done no research on it myself. So I…
Jagd
- 764
35
votes
15 answers
Generic name for places like village, town and cities
There is the German word Ort or Ortschaft which is a hypernym for places where people live like
villages
towns
cities
etc.
Is there a correspondent word in English?
I don't want to use location or place because they also represent geographical…
splattne
- 785
35
votes
5 answers
Winter — wintry; summer — summery; spring — ?; autumn —?
wintry:
characteristic of winter, esp. in feeling or looking very cold and bleak: "a wintry landscape".
summery: belonging to or characteristic of or occurring in summer; "summery weather";
What are the words that mean characteristic of spring and…
Armen Ծիրունյան
- 17,751
35
votes
6 answers
Difference between "résumé" and "CV"
What's the difference between résumé and CV?
When is résumé used? And when is CV used? Are they equivalent?
Hamed
- 461
35
votes
2 answers
"Onward" vs "Onwards"
Possible Duplicate:
“Toward” or “towards”?
Which is the correct usage? "Onwards" or "Onward" ?
For example:
I would be free any time Tuesday onward.
vs
I would be free any time Tuesday onwards.
Or are both correct/wrong?
The spell checker in…
RBK
- 453
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- 4
35
votes
2 answers
What do you call periodic negative reports to circumvent bans on transparency?
In some cases companies are not allowed to report on certain events happening, e.g., the US Government requesting to hand over customer data. My understanding is that some companies tried to circumvent this by issuing periodic negative reports.…
user1202136
- 1,007
35
votes
5 answers
Does "notified by [date]" include the end date?
I have read the Rules of a competition. The text of the Rules include a sentence as follows:
As per stated in the Rules the entrants will be notified by May 30th 2010.
Does the sentence above mean that May 30th is included in the term of…
ezpresso
- 1,515
35
votes
11 answers
Just how offensive are the terms "retarded" and "gay"?
My college-age son and his friends use the terms "retarded" and "gay" pretty much interchangeably to mean substandard, bad, lame (in the sense of ineffectual or weak) or just plain wrong. I've suggested that he might want to be careful about where…
Robusto
- 151,571
35
votes
3 answers
Has the verb "to import me" ever been commonly used in English the way "to concern me" is in the phrase "It does not concern me"?
In various European languages, most especially in the Romance ones, their
own respective cognates for our Latin-derived word import can be used as
a verb in much the way as the verb concern is used in current English:
Não me importa. …
Paul Richter
- 3,008
35
votes
1 answer
Debussy as term for bathroom?
In Michael Bishop's SF book Transfigurations (1979), the author (in the course of the narration by the main character) refers in several instances to one or another "debussy", by which he evidently means a bathroom (i.e. a loo/WC/toilet/washroom,…
Jacob C.
- 565
35
votes
2 answers
Why would "an mule" be used instead of "a mule"?
As generally agreed and as extensively discussed in this question, "an" should be used in place of the more common "a" where the following word begins with a vowel sound.
I have just encountered for the first time an instance of the phrasing
an…
C Ren
- 433
35
votes
18 answers
What's a word for avoiding a question with a generic (fake) answer?
Examples...
Q: Why is the sky blue?
A: Because God made it that way.
(A kid to their parent)
Q: Why do I have to clean my room?
A: Because I said so.
What is it called when someone answers a question this way? I've said "That's not an…
BZink
- 453
35
votes
2 answers
A word sounding like "weatherall" to refer to "someone who doesn’t have the courage"
I was talking to someone and used the sentence:
He doesn't have the weatherall to go sky-diving.
What I meant was that he doesn't have the courage, or the “cojones”, but I'm not sure what word was trying to come out of my mouth. I feel like…
user141562
- 453
35
votes
11 answers
Word for the thief's key that can unlock anything
Is there any specific word that describes or denotes a key, which helps thief to steal anything and anywhere, no matter what kind of lock there is. In a nut shell that key can unlock any locks e.g. of room, wardrobe, bike, etc.
In some parts of…
Ahmed
- 4,657