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9 answers
What does "twice" mean in " Once bitten, twice shy"?
There is a proverb saying "Once bitten, twice shy", and I am not sure what "twice" means here.
Does it mean
Once you are bitten, you get twice as shy as before
or
Once you are bitten, you get shy the next time
Also, does "once" means the same as…
Kijitora
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Using "the bank" or "the cinema" to talk about the activity
Native speakers use "the bank" even if they are not speaking about the specific bank, but because with certain institutions the definite article is used to talk about the activity. As in "I went to the bank yesterday." Can I use these words with…
Antonia A
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15
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3 answers
When the Gentle Giant song "Black Cat" refers to a cat as "she", does that mean the cat is female?
In Gentle Giant's song Black Cat it starts as follows:
There's a cat prowling through the streets at night
And she's black and her eyes are burning yellow
My question is: although said cat is referred as "she" and then the lyrics keeps it female,…
Gabriel Santos
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2 answers
What does "confused TF out of" mean?
What does "confused TF" mean?
Here is the article named "Meghan Markle Apparently Confused TF Out of an Eavesdropper by Talking a Lot on Double Date in NYC". I have read through it, but I still don't get what "confused TF" means.
brilliant
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15
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7 answers
Contrary of "As its/their name indicates"
In English we sometimes use the expression "As its/their name indicates" to express the fact that the name of a concept/object/etc. bears part of its meaning, e.g.:
As their name indicates, supernovae are discovered in the sky as
“new stars”…
Franck Dernoncourt
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15
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6 answers
Is it "the" or "a" in “The life of __ peasant”?
The example is taken from a book (a peasant):
The life of a peasant in the Middle Ages was hard.
Why not the peasant?
The life of the peasant in the Middle Ages was hard.
Ben
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1 answer
Can I use "they" to refer to my own skills?
Me and my friend had a conversation.
[My friend] damn, your listening skills are good
[Me] they've improved a lot since I started watching English dubbed anime
My friend told me that I can't use "they" to refer to my English listening skills…
cdleace
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15
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3 answers
What's a lot of money {out of curiosity}?
I have come across the following:
Person A: We made A LOT of money.
Person B: What's a lot of money
out of curiosity?
I am wondering, does ending a question with "out of curiosity" sound natural?
Mohammad
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15
votes
2 answers
Parsing "I was in the soup now good."
I came across this sentence in an article by John McPhee but I'm unable to parse it. Could you please help me parse it?
The sentence reads
By the end of 1945, I had passed the point of no return. I was in the soup now good.
Basically, I can't…
user40475
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15
votes
2 answers
What does "eating your hat" mean?
What does it mean to eat your hat? Does it mean to really eat the hat or does it mean you have disagreement to someone?
This expression appeared in the comments of Shawn Mooney's answer to Can we add “more” with an adjective to convert it into…
Aykhan Quliyev
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15
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3 answers
When to use "some" instead of "a"
You were just having some dream.
and
You were just having a dream.
Are both correct? What is the difference, if any?
juergen d
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2 answers
"It's time ... 'verb'/'verb-ed' ..."
It's time colleges helped you compare apples to apples.
(The Boston Globe)
If the time is a present moment, why does the journalist use "help" in the past tense? Or is "helped" subjunctive?
user114
15
votes
7 answers
What would you call, for the lack of a better way to put it, "benign nationalism"?
The terms 'nationalist' or 'nationalism' bring back memories of things like Nazi Germany or, at least, former US president Donald Trump's platform. But a political force, without demeaning other nationalities or any jingoism, can simply promote…
Sergey Zolotarev
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15
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7 answers
What does "if not" mean in the given sentence
Let there be given this sentence (which came from an English-Chinese dictionary):
The contest has become personalised, if not bitter.
Then what does the phrase if not mean?
Seeking after is a general guide or rule of such usage.
Yes
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15
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10 answers
What's the name for the string attached to a zipper to help close or open a bag?
What's the name for the string attached to a zipper to help close or open a bag?
I don't know the name in my native language. Example of use:
I'd like to add xxx on my bag's zippers.
Or
I would like to purchase a bag with xxx.
Franck Dernoncourt
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