Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
157 views
What should I say to people when I am passing them by?
I am talking about situations when you want to greet someone, without stopping to talk to them. In Russian, people usually say "добрый день" which means "hello." This is a greeting, not a valediction. ...
7
votes
13answers
1k views
What do you call a USB flash disk?
I assume usually you don’t say USB flash disk, right?
By the way, in Chinese we call it something more like U Disk.
1
vote
2answers
533 views
Is “a lot of” used generally in English, or is it colloquial?
I find a lot of people in Holland think 'a lot of' is too colloquial for use in academic work.
Is that the case?
15
votes
4answers
2k views
Burn up or burn down?
What's the difference between "burn up" and "burn down"? Or is there a difference at all?
1
vote
6answers
837 views
Colloquial expression for “compliment”
What is the colloquial/casual/conversational form of the word "compliment" in this context:
A: I hate John.
B: Why? He's like a genius.
A: Exactly! He's such a teacher's pet. He's always ...
2
votes
7answers
551 views
Is using “an idea” instead of “a good idea” good English?
In colloquial German, you can say something to the effect of
Would it be an idea to move the bike shed a bit to the left?
and it is immediately understood that "an idea" is supposed to mean "a ...
3
votes
2answers
242 views
Is “you've coming from” a colloquialism?
In the Take That song, Never Forget, the lyrics run "Never forget where you've coming from". Was that a mistake, or is it a colloquialism (or something else) to say "you've" instead of "you're" in ...
1
vote
1answer
954 views
“What's going on?” vs. “What's happening?”
Is there a semantic difference between What's going on? and What's happening?. Can they be used interchangeably?
12
votes
2answers
5k views
Why is “guinea pig” used as the colloquial term for test subjects?
Why do we refer to people as guinea pigs when discussing the subjects of an informal experiment? Surely mice, rabbits and rats are much more common experimental subjects. Indeed, it's rare that you'll ...
