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1500 questions
22
votes
8 answers
What do the British call the dish which is called 'pudding' in the US
I think the word pudding is used mostly as a general name for sweet dishes in the UK, whilst in the US it is a specific dessert. What do the British people call it? It looks delicious innit?
Mrt
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22
votes
3 answers
Is 'mating' only used with males? What if I use it with females? Is it incorrect?
Google ngram shows 'lion mating' word, but not lioness mating, and so goes with most of the species of animals. Why?
Do native speakers prefer males for describing 'mating'? Will it be incorrect if we describe females mating? Is there any such…
Rucheer M
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22
votes
3 answers
"Most simple" or "Simplest"
Should I use most simple or simplest to indicate something cannot be more simple?
Can I use both? Is one prefered?
If simplest - how is that pronounced? (Is the e silent?)
juergen d
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22
votes
3 answers
Do kidnappers only kidnap kids?
As I read at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kidnap, the etymology for kidnap is
kid (“child”) + nap (“nab, grab”)
Can an adult person also be kidnapped? Would it sound funny to say so? The definition mentions person, not child, but I'm not sure.…
nuoritoveri
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22
votes
7 answers
“I have little money” vs. “I have a little money”
What is the difference between “I have little money” and “I have a little money”?
Are they the same?
Mohamed Hamza
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22
votes
1 answer
Why say "Wait your turn" but "Wait FOR..." everything else?
Why in English is the word "for" not used in the phrase "wait your turn?" Wouldn't it make more sense to say "Wait for your turn" as for other things on which one waits?
Wait for the stop light not Wait the stop light.
Wait for (until) Tuesday not…
Flimzy
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22
votes
4 answers
What does "secular" mean in "secular ... shifts in investor behavior"?
Han, 2021, said that
For example, the model suggests that a shift in the social acceptability of talking about one’s successes,or of discussing personal investments more generally, can have large effects on risk taking and active investing. This…
Phil Nguyen
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22
votes
5 answers
Why is it that when we say a balloon pops, we say "exploded" not "imploded"?
Sometimes I wonder, when a balloon pops, we say:
Oh the balloon exploded!
Instead of:
Oh the balloon imploded!
When a balloon pops, it becomes smaller. As I see it, the meaning of "imploded" is:
collapse or cause to collapse violently…
U13-Forward
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22
votes
4 answers
"What does it sound like" vs "How does it sound like"
I'm currently doing a presentation and I have a slide where I show some speech examples from English speakers who have a certain type of pathological speech. I wrote the title "How does X speech sound like?" rather than "What does X speech sound…
boomkin
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22
votes
3 answers
"All the beach bodies were sold out"? Can a body be sold?
I've watched a video of Trevor Noah (Obama Calls For People To Vote Early In The Wake Of Postal Delays | The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, ~3:56), and get confused this sentence: "but then all the beach bodies were sold out".
Noah explains that some…
Aquarius
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22
votes
9 answers
What's the English saying for "That the ancestors are successful is inferior to that the descendants are successful"?
There goes a Chinese maxim "前人 强 不如 后人 强".
前人= former generation, ancestor;
后人= later generation, descendant;
强= strong, powerful;
不如= not as good/well as, inferior to, less desirable than.
The sentence literally means "That the ancestors are…
Zhang Jian
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22
votes
5 answers
How do you pronounce 2×4 (board)
Recently, I found "2x4" as a weapon in a game I played.
I found that it's a common standard for lumber board.
I tried to pronounce it as "two multiplies four" but it feels really weird.
How should I pronounce this word?
eth4io
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22
votes
2 answers
How can I remember the difference between "lay" and "laid"?
I often confuse lay and laid. For instance, in selecting the appropriate word in these contexts:
She lay/laid a hand on his arm.
He lay/laid across the bench lazily.
We lay/laid down our heavy load.
Is there a common mnemonic for…
Kit Z. Fox
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22
votes
4 answers
What do you call this when cats hunch their backs and their fur stands on end?
What do you call this when cats hunch their backs and their fur stands on end? I know there is such a word but I cannot recall it. This word can be used figuratively when saying that someone gets surprised, angry or react badly to something.
Dmytro O'Hope
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22
votes
2 answers
What's the hidden joke/meaning behind "Don't drink and park - accidents cause people"?
One of the articles in my (Dutch) secondary school newspaper had a long list of funny English quotes, e.g. "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like bananas.". There was one quote for which I couldn't figure out the joke:
Don't drink and park;…
Glorfindel
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