This tag is for questions about the meaning of a longer passage of English.
5
votes
3answers
151 views
What does “several states of mind away” mean? Does it mean a strange place or something else?
In this sentence,
I met him at the coffee place where I was working after I’d dropped
out of graduate school out West, many states and several states of
mind away from the New England college ...
5
votes
2answers
105 views
What does the phrase “a fine one” mean in this context?
In one one Daniil Kharms' short stories, Tikakeyev “insults” Koratygin by saying:
A fine one you are!
This causes a fight between the two. When I first read this, I didn't see the “insult”, ...
5
votes
2answers
13k views
What is the origin and meaning of the phrase “all day” when used in a commercial kitchen?
I've heard the phrase "all day" used when commanding a kitchen brigade. It's generally used in a phrase like "I need 3 filets .. all day". What does this expression mean in this context? And what is ...
5
votes
1answer
164 views
Is the phrase “make the grade” correctly used in this context?
I was interested in the following sentence which appeared in an article titled “How My Child Skipped the State Tests" by Robert Kulesz in The New York Times, School Book, (May 9, 2012).
To be ...
5
votes
2answers
594 views
Difference between “he said something” and “he mentioned something”
(a) What is the difference between he said something and he mentioned something? Can they be used interchangeably?
(b) Is it proper to respond to Did I tell you X? with Yes, you mentioned it?
5
votes
2answers
356 views
Meaning of “break over”
I read this in Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address,
The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, ...
5
votes
1answer
259 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
In the sentence “Each time you sleep with someone, you also sleep with his past,” what does “past” mean?
I saw this sentence in a website:
Each time you sleep with someone, you also sleep with his past.
What is the 'past' mentioned here?
4
votes
3answers
557 views
What does “Every Jewish mother will die, a fact many are not exactly famous for playing down” mean?
The New York Times (May 20) carried a review on a revue, “Old Jews telling jokes”, currently being performed at the Westside Theater, under the title “Such a tradition of humor, and this is only a ...
4
votes
4answers
227 views
Meaning of art in this context
A line from Kipling's The Last of the Light Brigade reads thus:
They felt that life was fleeting; they knew not that art was long,
What does art mean in this context?
4
votes
3answers
384 views
“Two people got hurt and five people died in the tragedy”
Can you say so? In other words, are deaths counted among people that got hurt?
Does it make a difference if you say:
Two people were injured and five people died in the tragedy.
Let's imagine ...
4
votes
2answers
105 views
Is it a standard usage of ‘blue’ to be used as a verb to mean ‘being deflated / become pessimistic’?
I was interested in the usage of ‘blue’ as a verb in the headline of New Yorker’s article, “Bibi Netanyahu’s election blues,” followed by the following lead copy:
“The center-left, which had ...
4
votes
2answers
414 views
“Lots of milk and sugar” or “lots of milk and (lots) of sugar”
When asking how someone wants their tea, they reply: "lots of milk and sugar".
Is that to be interpreted as "Lots of milk and sugar" or "lots of milk and (lots) of sugar" according to the rules of ...
4
votes
4answers
246 views
“To go” in the meaning of “to poop”
Here is a quote from article:
The largest animals ever to have lived on Earth, blue whales are colossal in every respect — including, it must be said, the scatological. When a blue whale goes, it ...
4
votes
3answers
340 views
Can the word “deceiving” stand for “positive”?
I was puzzled with the line “(President Lyndon Johnson’s) appearances can be deceiving,” in the Washington Post’s (April 2) article titled “President Lyndon Johnson did indeed attend an Easter Egg ...
4
votes
1answer
220 views
What is “desysopped”?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Rollback_feature:
Standard rollback may only be used in certain situations – editors who
misuse standard rollback (for example, by using it to reverse
...
4
votes
2answers
909 views
What does the phrase that 'I've all but..' mean in this sentence?
I found the sentence below in a book I'm reading:
I've all but given up dating because I'm so tired of the pain and humiliation.
What does I've all but mean in this context?
4
votes
3answers
534 views
Born to a very humble family?
I was reading one's bio, finding the usage of humble in that sentence confusing to me.
Here's the context.
Born to a very humble family, Charles Zhang’s parents were residential
physicians at a ...
4
votes
3answers
7k views
What is the difference between “brain” and “mind”?
Could someone please explain the contextual difference of this two words? If I for instance say:
I am using my brain to decide in what direction to move.
or
I am using my mind to decide in ...
4
votes
4answers
299 views
What is the implication of Herman Cain “tried to parse the meaning of “settlement” versus “agreement”?
In Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Cain not Able” appearing in the New York Times November 1st issue, there was the following line:
“He [Herman Cain] has contradicted himself even more risibly on ...
4
votes
2answers
537 views
What does ‘alpha’ mean in the phrase, “A plea came for the President to be more alpha.”
I find the articles of New York Times’ columnist, Maureen Dowd, a treasure house of English expressions unfamiliar to non-native English learners. It’s stud with knotty expressions and new words to ...
4
votes
3answers
122 views
the “meat” of one’s hand
Is it common to use the phrase “meat” of one’s hand in the meaning of trace of one’s hand or finger print?
There was an interesting essay on eraser written by Marry Norris, titled “Erasehead” in ...
4
votes
1answer
229 views
What does ‘“I don’t know if there’s a cloud name for where I am right now,” mean?
Christian Lopez, a New York student who retrieved Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit and simply returned the ball to the Yankees shortstop was lauded for his honorable and unselfish act. He became the ...
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 ...
4
votes
3answers
158 views
What does “pink primates” mean?
What does this sentence mean?
What was over there?
Freaky pink primates!
Why 'pink' ? What is the exact meaning?
It was in Over the Hedge.
4
votes
6answers
1k views
Meaning of “best among the worst”
What does best among the worst mean? For example, if a person is best among the worst does it mean that he is the worst of all or that he is a good person in a group of bad persons?
4
votes
4answers
617 views
What does Rick Perry’s “God uses broken people to reach a broken world" mean?
In the New York Times article of September 17 titled “Egghead and Blockheads,” Maureen Dowd introduces that GOP Presidential candidate, Rick Perry made light of his bad grades at Texas A&M in his ...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
Can someone please explain this pun?
There's a sentence that I keep reading over and over, and I can't quite grasp what's so funny about it. Perhaps, it isn't funny. Or perhaps, there's a meaning of a word in the sentence that I don't ...
4
votes
3answers
9k views
What is the meaning of “I got you”?
What does
I got you
mean?
Does it mean
Ok, I understood what you said
or
Hey, I know that you did that?
If they are both correct, when should we use which?
4
votes
2answers
580 views
What does “soundness of judgment” mean?
Could anyone explain what exactly does "soundness of judgment" mean? I understand this as when you can judge something and take in count all possible exceptions that are involved in the evaluation of ...
4
votes
2answers
212 views
What does “tink, terry tink” mean in “I’ll mend them all with a tink, terry tink,”?
My questions are:
Is "tink" is a verb, meaning the action of a tinker?
Is "terry" is an adj. meaning gentle?
From the book "A History of the Cries of London", page 99.
Have you any work for ...
4
votes
4answers
273 views
What does “Japan-lite problems” mean?
It’s pity to learn our own country is viewed as a bad example for other countries not to follow. I found the word “Japan-lite problems” in the article of Time magazine (August 25 issue) titled “Six ...
4
votes
2answers
249 views
How to interpret “as do” in this sentence
I'm reading a tutorial about "mutex" and "semaphore", in which the following sentence has confused me:
Mutexes can be applied only to threads in a single process and do not work between processes ...
4
votes
3answers
908 views
Meaning of “one order of magnitude improvement”
There is no single development, in either technology or management
technique, which by itself promises even one order of magnitude
improvement in productivity, in reliability, in ...
4
votes
3answers
275 views
I cannot understand what's being asked here
What are the ways in which the universal, inclusive conception of French nationalism was tested by a (racially-conceived) particularistic, exclusive one?
I'm at loss, I don't know what's being ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
What does “sunset” mean in this text?
In the definition of USA PATRIOT, I read the following text:
Many of the act's provisions were to sunset beginning December 31, 2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. In the months ...
4
votes
2answers
160 views
Meaning of “run small”
What's the meaning of run here?
P1: I've been thinking of getting a Levi's Filson jacket. But can't find anywhere to try it on.
P2: They run small.
A close definition I found is "to make a ...
4
votes
2answers
190 views
“At most as many” — what does it mean? [closed]
I've been given the following question as a homework:
If h is consistent, then A* - CSCS will expand at most as many nodes as A* graph search.
English not being my native language, I'm kind of ...
4
votes
2answers
366 views
What does “You might want to put 30% down for yourself” mean?
In the movie Law Abiding Citizen, there is this dialog when Clyde is having meal in the cell at about 48 minutes:
Clyde: Oh, excuse me, waiter?
[The waiter looks at Cyde]
Clyde: You ...
4
votes
2answers
175 views
What is the meaning of the subclause of 'goes off the deep end'?
If a real-time program goes off the deep end, the system can become unresponsive.
4
votes
2answers
433 views
What does “heavy” mean in this sentence?
The site is a little bit slow because of installed heavy zencart application
What's the meaning of heavy in the above sentence?
Does it mean the application is too large or something else?
4
votes
1answer
5k views
“To be is to do” — “To do is to be” — “Do-be-do-be-do”: what does this mean?
To be is to do. —Socrates
To do is to be. —Plato
Do-be-do-be-do. —Sinatra
I saw it on some shirts or somewhere. I don’t understand what it means when those sentences are put together.
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 ...
4
votes
3answers
114 views
Does “She’s scarce any hose or shoes to her feet” mean dressed unkempt?
What's the meaning of this sentence?
From the book "A History of the Cries of London", page 101:
Have you observ’d the wench in the street, She’s scarce any hose or
shoes to her feet; And ...
4
votes
4answers
182 views
What’s the role of ‘because’ in this conversation?
I’ve lost track of the logical flow of the following conversation between Lucius Malfoy and Harry.
And still, behind his back, Dobby was pointing, first to the diary, then to Lucius Malfoy, then ...
4
votes
2answers
264 views
Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind
In this interview on the TV show The Wire, David Simon (the show's creator) says:
Much of our modern theater seems
rooted in the Shakespearean discovery
of the modern mind. [The show is]
...
4
votes
3answers
842 views
What does “You might be better off thinking of something” mean?
I found this sentence in my programming book:
You might be better off thinking of the block and the method as
coroutines, which transfer control back and forth between themselves.
What does be ...
4
votes
3answers
103 views
Meaning of a statement from The Economist [closed]
This is a sentence from The Economist:
IT IS growing harder to distinguish one bloody day in Syria from the
next, unless the horror is so stark as to earn a special mark in the
trajectory of ...
4
votes
4answers
180 views
Meaning of “to pivot to do something”
I found the use of the verb pivot in a context I can't quite understand:
We will now pivot the company's effort to date and focus on becoming a comprehensive provider of ...
What is the meaning ...
4
votes
1answer
318 views
What does “take the bird with me” mean?
"It never crossed my mind that if I'm walking from A to B anything could happen in the middle. If I got caught [with the gun] I would have said no comment and took the bird with me." GUARDIAN
...
