A colloquialism is a word or phrase used in everyday conversation, but generally avoided in formal speech and writing.
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1answer
73 views
Correct spelling of “can too” in response to “you can't” [closed]
If someone says "you can't do that" there's a colloquial response of "can too". Is it "can too" or "can to"?
9
votes
7answers
3k views
Colloquial definition of “douchebag”
Obviously "douchebag" has a literal meaning - however if we see someone wearing sunglasses indoors, we would call them a douchebag. I'm trying to explain this to a friend. How do you verbalize this ...
1
vote
2answers
60 views
Evolution of “push somebody's buttons” and “know what buttons to push”
Colloquially speaking, "to push somebody's buttons" means to irritate or annoy the person. And, "know what buttons to push" means to know what to do to get people to act the way you want.
I can't ...
4
votes
3answers
6k views
Usage of 'much more'
Is saying much more grammatically correct?
For instance, some purists argue that this is wrong:
I'm much more comfortable with A than B
and that it should be:
I'm more comfortable with A ...
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votes
2answers
112 views
Can I use “lardy-dardy” to describe a man's gay lisp and gesture?
Can I use "lardy-dardy" to describe a man's gay lisp and gesture? If this is not OK, I have three more questions.
How else can I ever use lardy-dardy?
Which word should I be using instead?
Is ...
4
votes
3answers
339 views
Bless your heart
Is "bless your heart" something only used by old women in the South (all I've ever heard)? Or is it ever appropriate for a man to use it without seeming unmanly? Does the term always have ...
4
votes
3answers
200 views
What does “flustrated” mean, and is it a word?
What does the flustrated mean? Is it even a word? I am using Lingea Lexicon and it doesn’t know this word, but the Internet is full of it.
I find myself hating people for using it both in English ...
3
votes
5answers
1k views
Is it acceptable to begin a declarative sentence with “Am”?
I want to know firstly if it's grammatically correct to start a declarative sentence with "Am". For example:
Am excited about the game today.
Secondly, if it is grammatically incorrect, then I ...
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0answers
44 views
When to use “programming's” vs. “programming is” [duplicate]
My sentence can be said as:
Programming is fun.
and it can also be said as:
Programming's fun.
Both seem to be correct. When should I use one instead of the other?
8
votes
6answers
2k views
What does “Eleventy-seven” mean?
I came across the following phrase in a story (set in Australia):
So the fact that I'm forty-five and you're eleventy-seven means nothing to me. If other people have a problem with that, then it's ...
-1
votes
1answer
168 views
How does the expression “Not half bad” hold its meaning? [closed]
I'm interested in the phrase 'not half bad', which, like 'cheap at half the price' actually means the opposite of what the user is generally trying to say. The term 'not half!' is commonly used to ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Where did the phrase “shut up” as an expression of disbelief or amazement originate?
I recently heard shut up used according to this definition in Urban dictionary.
shut·up (shuht-up)
--interjection
1. An expression of disbelief.
2. Amazement; astonishment.
I've only ...
11
votes
4answers
11k views
“Calling dibs” - what does it imply?
The term "to have dibs on something" or "to call dibs on something" plays a recurring role in American film and television (e.g. How I Met Your Mother), so it gets exported a lot.
Wikipedia describes ...
14
votes
6answers
3k views
He's good people. Just him. The one guy
I think this is a Midwestern thing, but where does the phrase "good people" come from? I'm referring specifically to the usage: "I like Bob. He's good people."
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votes
3answers
3k views
What is the origin of the phrase “stand on your head and spit wooden nickels?”
Where does this phrase come from? Was there a time in which it was in popular use? Is it an American English phrase?
8
votes
1answer
211 views
What is the etymology of “todger”?
What is the etymology of "todger"? My Concise OED is rather vague:
ORIGIN 1950s: of unknown origin (also tadger)
"Tadger" is just listed as a "Variant spelling of TODGER"
Other references ...
1
vote
2answers
76 views
“What time?” instead of “What day?”
I was talking with a friend about an event that was going to happen in the future. He asked me "What time?" referring, as I discovered after a while, to the day this event was going to happen.
I ...
4
votes
1answer
152 views
What is the correct way to write the interjection “ha ha?”
I had a hard time finding the English origin of this interjection and how it technically should be written. I am often ridiculed in written conversations, especially those that are informal, because I ...
1
vote
1answer
79 views
What does “playus nigh” mean in Cockney?
Quotation from A history of the cries of London ancient (p23).
Refer to What does “him as writ plays” mean?
1
vote
1answer
86 views
What do “truxtop” and “thumb tax” mean? [closed]
What do truxtop and thumb tax mean?
I found them mentioned in this quotation from English Words History and Structure, 2nd edition (p. 113):
The replacement of the sequence [ks] by x is a ...
2
votes
2answers
150 views
What does “him as writ plays” (etc.) mean in old newspaper clipping?
Quotation from A history of the cries of London ancient (p23).
... famous theatre afterwards to be so widely known. The sunshiny time of our literature and life, making a red-letter period in ...
1
vote
1answer
211 views
“so long as” vs. “as long as”
I just googled the difference between as long as and so long as. The difference has alredy been discussed here. There are, it seems, two contexts for these expressions:
lengths and physical ...
1
vote
4answers
89 views
An alternative to “serious business”
I am writing an article about a fancy cocktail bar and I am looking for an alternative to the phrase "drinking here is a serious business". Normally I am pretty good at this but, I just have the same ...
18
votes
10answers
1k views
Derogatory term for electronic device
In German, the term "Kiste", literally meaning "box", is often used as a colloquial derogatory term for electronic and mechanical devices.
It is comparable to "jalopy", which, however, seems to be ...
31
votes
5answers
2k views
Is Valley Girl speak “like”, entering the language?
So like, I had this teacher? And he's like, "You're late?" And I'm like,
"There's like other people late too?"
I've always cringed at the word "like" strewn about in a spoken sentence. Well now ...
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votes
1answer
117 views
Is it ok to end a sentence with a preposition? [duplicate]
I have a sentence:
It can be derived from either A or B.
But I’m not sure how to ask the following question:
Which one of them can it be derived from?
Is that ok, or would it be better if ...
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. ...
0
votes
3answers
247 views
Usage of third person form for first person
Recently, I discovered the following sentence in a Terry Pratchett book (which was not a typing error, since it appeared several times):
I sees what he's doing.
Presumably, the wrong usage of ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
How do you write the short form of “you all”?
The short form is pronounced as "yoll", but what is the actual spelling? Is it "y'all"? Any official mention of the spelling?
Example useage: "Where are you-all going".
Pronounced as "Where are yoll ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
-1
votes
4answers
183 views
Using any punctuation, how many meanings does this sign have? [closed]
I was walking in the Norfolk countryside today, when I spotted this sign.
Notice that it is devoid of punctuation. It is obviously a warning sign to motorists. However, it made me giggle. Using any ...
1
vote
1answer
121 views
Any better term than “Postscript”?
There was a Postscript section in my English Course-book, which simply teaches the colloquial English phrases as in "Give me a lift", "Let me have a look", "There is no point", etc. But "postscript" ...
3
votes
1answer
75 views
Acceptability and use of “to got” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Don’t got” — how common is it in American usage?
Recently, I've started to hear more and more often people use "got" as a present simple form (obviously originating ...
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votes
1answer
98 views
Is “all of your everything” common English?
Is the phrase “all of your everything” proper English? It seems to mean “all of your belongings”, but what special connotations does this phrase have?
It can be found here but the search engine of ...
3
votes
2answers
316 views
What are the origins for the phrases “Knock it off” and “Cut it out”?
When taken literally, the colloquial phrases "Knock it off" and "Cut it out" do not seem to mean "Stop what you're doing." How did these two phrases get their current meanings?
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vote
4answers
395 views
What are some colloquial English phrases for 'a child acquiring its parents' characteristics or features'?
I am not sure if the title is clear enough to you, so let me briefly explain what I'm looking for.
We sometimes see children who look very much like their father or mother, or even behave typically ...
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votes
5answers
1k views
What is the commonly accepted pronunciation of FAQ?
I hear FAQ(s) pronounced like a word in "FACK(s)", while I go letter by letter. In usage, what is more common?
(Similar to SQL vs Sequel)
5
votes
3answers
4k views
“Going to go” vs “going to”?
My significant other tells me that I'm not "going to go" to the shops, I'm "going to" the shops, and beats me mercilessly when I say that.
Is this not correct? I might not be going to the shops until ...
2
votes
4answers
673 views
Is “blah blah blah” the most common spelling?
What is the most common or correct spelling of "blah blah blah"?
blah blah blah
blah blah
bla bla bla
bla bla
My question stems from when I first wrote it as "bla bla bla" in an English text, ...
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.
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votes
8answers
174 views
Non-offensive equivalent to KISS [closed]
Is there a non-offensive way to tell someone:
is better to (k)eep (i)t (s)imple, (s)...
Update
Let's say someone came with his part of the homework done, then it turns out to be a rather ...
0
votes
3answers
2k views
How to use “you are so lame!” or “you are so retard!” with friends? [closed]
I heard lots of these words from my colleagues.
Definitions in Dictionary do not help me much.
What I really want to know is what these words actually mean when using with friends and what situation ...
9
votes
5answers
826 views
Etymology of “to be like” meaning “to say”
It seems that "to be like" is an informal phrase for "to say". E.g.
She was so angry, she was like "I'm breaking up with you", and I was like "I'm sorry", and she was like "Go away".
Is this a ...
19
votes
4answers
1k views
“A whole nother” way of looking at things
People say this so much (instead of "another whole" way, etc.) that I wonder how it got started. How did "another whole..." get changed to "a whole nother..."?
4
votes
1answer
289 views
Does “awe” have a colloquial meaning (similar to “awesome”)?
The meaning of awe is given in dictionaries as "an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime" (this definition is from ...
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votes
3answers
226 views
Is “ain’t” slang, or is it colloquial instead?
Does using the word ain’t in a song make it slang, whereas using it in a speech make it colloquial?
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vote
1answer
142 views
Etymology of “What could (possibly) go wrong?”
What is the (likely) origin of the popular usage of the phase "What could go wrong?" or "What could possibly go wrong?" as a theatrical plot device or ironic commentary? Does this usage pre-date or ...
3
votes
2answers
94 views
Use of 'That“ rather than ”the"
The weather reports on the BBC frequently use the word "That" when I was expecting either no article or possibly "the". For example 'There will be more of that cold weather.' when no cold weather has ...
3
votes
3answers
329 views
“Will” and “Going To”. What are the real differences of the colloquial usage of them?
I'm from Brasil and here we study the differences of using "Will" and "Going to" to talk about the future. But it is usually very confusing because we have a different kind of conjugation that uses no ...
0
votes
1answer
165 views
“Might” vs. “Maybe” [closed]
Is it a correct form to say while talking?
"I might go" => i.e., maybe I will go
"he might be available" => i.e., maybe he will be available.
