Discussion Forum
This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
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I would like to know more about the meaning of the popular song, One Love, by Bob Marley. It’s especially popular now in the States because of the current tv ads on traveling to Jamaica. Thank you!
Hello!
I’m hoping someone can help me with this one. I’m searching for the origins of “Jiggs Dinner”. In Newfoundland this is the traditional Sunday dinner consisting of peas pudding (yes, from the old nursery rhyme, salt meat, cabbage, carrot, turnip, and potatoes, all cooked in the same pot). In case anyone is wondering, it is delicious. ;-)
My question is: Who is Jigg and why are we eating his dinner? No one here seems to have any information on the origin of the name.
Thanks much,
Mates, I’m in a big trouble. What does “bios” mean? It must be a Latin word, right? (And I tell you it has nothing to do with computer’s BIOS.) i.e. “...enablig the performer’s “presens” or scenic bios to attract the spectator’s attention...” [Eugenio Barba, The Paper Canoe: A Guide to Theatre Anthropology, p. 9. bios is Italic in the original text] you can check this as well.
Is the phrase “I’m afraid not,” such as in the below exchange, an idiom? It does not seem to make sense to me.
“May I please have the newspaper?” “I’m afraid not.”
Would that construction not indicate “I am not afraid?” To me, it seems that perhaps the phrase came from the shortening of “I’m afraid I can not” by dropping the “can” which completely ruins the ability of the phrase to make logical sense.
Even if I am correct in my assumptions, the phrase is still commonly used and understood. However, in formal writing, should I purposely avoid using this phrase due to my above concerns?
Which one(s) is (are) correct? Which one(s) would you use?
Stumbled upon Stumbled accross Stumbled on Stumbled into Stumbled in Stumbled onto
I thought I’ve always used the expression “Murphy’s Law” correctly, but now a native English speaker cast doubt on my usage. This happens a lot with me. I thought I had been using certain terms correctly for years, and one day, someone tells me that it’s wrong. I correct it, then years later, someone else corrects me again.
The context I used “Murphy’s Law” was this:
In buying more storage space for a computer server, I said the Murphy’s Law is this: Whatever the amount of space you provide, that’s how much people end up using it, because most people are too lazy to properly back up files and delete them off the server. So, the bigger is not always the better. If you provide too much space, you’ll end up with unmanageable amount of data to back up properly.
There are certain phenomena in life where things naturally incline towards the worst case scenario. File storage is one such case. If no one puts pressures on people to back up and delete, the servers usually get full no matter how big it is. Is this a wrong use of “Murphy’s Law”?
Hello, everyone! Pardon my ignorance, but could anyone tell me what a “die theater” or “die party” mean? There’s no context. It’s just a phrase from a grammmar book. (I went to die party last night). So, maybe it’s a misprint? And they intended just the article “THE”? I did not find anything on the Net, they suggest that it’s German!!! (’die’ is an article in German), so who can explain it, please? Thanks to everybody.
After doing a brief search and thinking a bit, I cannot come to an answer to the question of what “Tilting at windmills” means or where such a phrase may have come from.
What does “tilting at windmills” mean or symbolize? What are some usages?
Thanks.
I sometimes hear about American travelers having trouble ordering water abroad.
Some visiting Europe complain that they’ll get sparkling water or mineral water (!) for their order of... water. These people would then try ordering water “no gas” BUT would get a bottle of non-carbonated water (!?).
I am kind of at loss as to what words I should use when ordering water in the US. I take it that “sparkling” is the word of choice when ordering carbonated water. Are the words “club soda” and “soda water” just as popular?
I have been told that “bottled water” is the expression used to order non-carbonated water. But I am not sure. Do you use “still water” for non-carbonated? Also I don’t get why the people mentioned above 1. referred to carbonated water as mineral (!) and 2. complained that they got “non-carbonated water” for their order of “water ‘no gas’ “.
I’ve tried looking it up only to make matters worse. I know there are a dozen questions all bunched into one message, but could anyone help me set the record straight on this one? I appreciate it.
What is a “double header” on Memorial Day? Is it 2 baseball games in a row (who can stand to watch 2 games in a row?) I found the expression on page 5 in Philip Roth’s latest novel “The plot agsinst America”
