This tag is for questions about the meaning of a longer passage of English.
1
vote
4answers
407 views
“but otherwise” in a sentence
"But otherwise" means"except for what has just been mentioned". In the sentence below, what does it mean?
Galicia, on the Atlantic coast of northern Spain, is the homeland of Generalissimo ...
1
vote
3answers
106 views
“justify” vs. “align” in the context of alignment
A function offers an option. The value of the option decides if elements in a column are aligned right, aligned left or centered. Is it OK to call this option justify or is only align correct?
-2
votes
1answer
188 views
What is the meaning of “Hip” in the given context?
I have a difficulty to interpret the meaning of "Hip" even after consulting the dictionary.
Let me give the meanings given by online Oxford dictionary:
hip 1 |hip|
noun
1. a projection of the ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
“Odin’s tears will drown the world of men on the day” — what does this sentence mean? [closed]
Here is the passage:
The skies will burst open and Odin’s tears will drown the world of men on the day when JaVale McGee’s body syncs up naturally with his team on the basketball court.
...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
Meaning of “Apply at 4–6 weekly intervals”
I purchased some fungicide. The instructions on the back of the bottle say "Apply at 4–6 weekly intervals."
Does that mean it should be applied 4–6 times a week? Or every 4–6 weeks?
1
vote
2answers
304 views
Contextual difference between “That is why” vs “Which is why”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Do we use “which” or “that” when referring to the preceding main clause as a whole?
Please consider the below sentences.
I have flunked the exam, that is why I am ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
And I didn't know kiwis had hair [closed]
What can this phrase possible mean?
And I didn't know kiwis had hair
I have parsed this as well as I can and cannot come up with anything that makes sense.
Reference for context: comment under ...
8
votes
2answers
144 views
Meaning of “she will never get sore” in 1950s
This has been bothering me for a while... in Meredith Wilson's The Music Man, there's a song entitled "Shipoopi" about the dream girl who is neither a hussy nor so prudish she can't be woo'd. One of ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
Is it normal to use ‘the second’ without a preposition in expressing ‘as soon as” or ‘no later than’?
I saw the following sentence in Time magazine’s (December 3) article titled “Betraying physical book: A book lover’s e-dilemma:
“When electronic books first came out, I embraced them ...
-3
votes
1answer
52 views
Can I infer this corollary? [closed]
BBC reports what the Australian Home Minister said today:
There is no place for corruption in our law enforcement agencies. Where it exists we have to weed it out.
As a corollary, can I infer ...
0
votes
0answers
66 views
Meaning of “normal bounds of propriety” [closed]
I have read this expression:
The trade-off in any such agreement is that the campaign will not
exceed the normal bounds of propriety in charging news organizations.
I would like to know its ...
0
votes
1answer
293 views
What are the component words of 'Cliffpocalypsemageddonacaust'? Can this be accepted as a practical English word?
I was amused to find the unusually lengthy word, “Cliffpocalypsemageddonacaust” in Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Watch Out Below!” in December 15 NY-Times. Dowd admits she used a word invented by Jon ...
-2
votes
1answer
73 views
Meaning of “self-priming” in specific example
I don't understand the term self-priming in the following sentence:
Illustrators may have a self-priming function, helping people put
words together into reasonably coherent speech.
Just for ...
-1
votes
2answers
220 views
Usage of “no more” in a sentence
I would need help with the following sentence:
It may be no more difficult to claim in words a feeling not felt than one that is.
The “no more” is related to the whole sentence or just to the ...
-3
votes
2answers
95 views
What does “pretense” mean in this context? [closed]
You answered me with no pretense
Context
I checked the definition but I still don't really get it. What would be another way of saying this?
1
vote
1answer
72 views
What is the meaning of the quotation below?
“Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life’s ironies
that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.” — W. Somerset Maugham
-2
votes
2answers
168 views
What is the meaning of “empty of joy”? [closed]
Please go through the below excerpt from "The Story of My Life" from "Helen Keller"
I have met people so empty of joy, that when I clasped their frosty finger tips, it seemed as if I were shaking ...
-3
votes
1answer
73 views
What is the meaning of “his voice a mere thread”? [closed]
The below excerpt from "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagat"
The background story is as follows. One village in India is suffering with some diseases and villagers belongs to that village are dying ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
What is the meaning of “dumbly eloquent”?
Please go through this excerpt from "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller:
The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so ...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
What does one's status being “less a blank check than an equation with multiple variables” mean?
There is the following line in a December 8 New York Times article titled “Clinton’s countless choices hinge on one: 2016”:
“But being Hillary Clinton is never a simple matter, and her next few
...
1
vote
1answer
109 views
Meaning of “mounting interest”
I'm not a native English speaker and I have trouble understanding this sentence from The Daily Telegraph. Does mounting interest mean paying the interest and then the actual loan?
The burden of ...
-1
votes
1answer
122 views
What does “let loose the berries” mean? [closed]
What does let loose the berries mean in the passage below?
A grocery store found out that customers wanted to pick their strawberries individually instead of buying them preboxed. Once it let ...
4
votes
2answers
62 views
Meaning of “stands there” in “[The word] stands there, easily repeated back”
I do not understand the "stands there" part related to the word:
It is much harder to deny having said an angry
word. It stands there, easily repeated back, hard to disavow
totally.
What ...
-2
votes
1answer
1k views
The meaning of “What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her” [closed]
Title - Feel It
Artist - The Tamperer ft. Maya
You got it on the side
A little one night thing
I thought it over and this time I will forgive you
Well I'm not letting go
But don't forget ...
0
votes
1answer
82 views
What do you think if you see an image with its description “last night at New York”?
I saw that a friend of mine who moved to New York City 3 months ago posted a picture on Facebook. She described it as "last night at New York."
The first time I read it, I thought she meant that it ...
-3
votes
1answer
98 views
What is meaning of “Sulking though”? [closed]
The background story is as follows. Author flunked engineering entrance exam. He took tuitions by paying hefty fee from his father pockets in order to crack the exam. How ever he flunked again. After ...
-1
votes
2answers
170 views
What does “pre-delay” mean in this conversation?
This short piece of dialogue appears in the movie "Faces in the Crowd":
Bryce: Shouldn't you be handing out gold stars instead of earning yellow
ribbons on FarmVille?
Anna: I was just ...
1
vote
5answers
200 views
What meaning “Chip on their shoulder” takes here?
The context is below.
Bansal is the famous coaching center to clear Engineering Entrance test. Bansal students had a chip on their shoulder, even though they weren't technically even in a college
...
5
votes
4answers
245 views
What is the meaning of the phrase “we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe”?
I learned the specified phrase from the book "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagath".
I didn't like the we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe between Raghav and Aarti
What is the meaning of ...
2
votes
3answers
111 views
What is the meaning of “divinity that hedges sublimest woe”?
I found the above phrase in the book "The story of my life" by Helen Keller. The actual sentence is below.
It has been my privilege to meet a few great actors and actress who have the power of so ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
What do “take ground” and “vested in” mean in this context?
Here is an extract from the headnote of a case [1] I am trying to understand:
The defendants, who were wharfingers, agreed with the plaintiff for a
consideration to allow his vessel to discharge ...
4
votes
4answers
155 views
Is it usual to use “full-cry” as a stand-alone adjective?
Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Spellbound by Blondes, Hot and Icy” appearing in December 1st NY-Times jumps from Alfred Hitchcock’s favor of blonde actresses to the dispute of Hillary Clinton’s ...
2
votes
2answers
283 views
What does “creep” mean in the song “Creep” by Radiohead?
If someone knows English and Portuguese, I'd like help with a translation of the lyrics of the song Creep by Radiohead. The translations we have here translate creep to Portuguese as verme, esquisito ...
-2
votes
1answer
63 views
What's the meaning of “direct” here?
Consider the following quote:
When a pipe carries water, or a wire carries electricity, it contains and directs the flow of the water or the electricity.
Is direct here sense 2 from OALD?
2 ...
-1
votes
2answers
87 views
What is meaning for 'Provisioning Server'? [closed]
Hi received an email from one of my client. They are using 'Provisioning server' sentence instead of production server. I can't find exact meaning.
1
vote
3answers
140 views
additional local and domestic long distance minutes are $0.10 per minute [closed]
All airtime is billed by the second after the first minute, additional local and domestic long distance minutes are $0.10 per minute.
My phone company and I are arguing over the use of the word ...
3
votes
3answers
142 views
Is this Irony/Idiomatic speech? [closed]
I was reading this blog post and had trouble understanding this comment on the piece:
Or you could appropriate the Freudian hermeneutic: "Sometimes a vessel
is just a vessel."
I understand ...
10
votes
1answer
274 views
What's the meaning of “stained with a blue bag” in this text?
In a story titled "Prelude" written by "Katherine Mansfield", I came across the following paragraph:
After tea Kezia wandered back to their own house. Slowly she walked up
the back steps, and ...
3
votes
1answer
166 views
What does the phrase “red rovering” mean? [closed]
What does the phrase "red rovering" mean? Here is the context:
Over a decade ago, Billy Bob’s career began in the corporate world before red-rovering to agency life.
5
votes
1answer
260 views
Reason vs. purpose
Just now I wanted to explain why I was doing something, then I wrote "the purpose of doing something is blablabla". Immediately I wondered why I didn't write "the reason of doing something is ...
1
vote
5answers
6k views
Meaning of “all retch and no vomit”
I heard of the expression "all retch and no vomit" for the first time, and the references I could find by googling it are not really clear to me. Here is the context where I found it:
What we are ...
2
votes
3answers
121 views
What is this double “be” meaning?
Given the sentence:
He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he didn’t seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.
I guess that in ‘to be being ...
-2
votes
1answer
74 views
Does this mean 'he was doomed'? [closed]
Given the sentence:
Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?
I guess that in ...
5
votes
2answers
334 views
What does “sank like a Chevy Volt in water” mean?
The Mesh Report (October 11) issue disclosed President Obama was confident that he won at the first Presidential debate with Mitt Romney in the article titled “Clueless: Obama thought he won debate ...
2
votes
2answers
228 views
What’s the meaning of “surrender” here? [closed]
What's the meaning of surrender as used in the Aerosmith song, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”:
I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While ...
4
votes
2answers
119 views
meaning of “grunt” when it comes to towing
The title of the humorous story is "The Sun got stuck"
“I don't suppose you could give us a tow, could you, sister?”
Luna's eyebrows shot up, “How? With what? The sun's 400 times larger than ...
2
votes
3answers
110 views
Meaning of “Early days I know but may help.”
I am reading an email from my client about the changes that he wants me to make.
In the end, there is a sentence:
Early days I know but may help.
Can someone explain the meaning of this ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Does “show how” mean repeat, or just show? [closed]
In the dictionary, how has meanings of the manner or way in which and to what extent, degree.
By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor ...
4
votes
1answer
171 views
Expressions in Tim Minchin's “Cont.”
In his song "Cont.", Tim Minchin uses two expressions I cannot find in a dictionary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmTexiEZmL8
Can somebody explain the meanings?
"..., who lean on their horn..." ...
6
votes
2answers
351 views
Use of “because of”
In high school, the teacher told me that because is used to answer “why” question, as below:
Why you are you using my shoes?
I am using your shoes because I like them.
However, the use ...
