User KitFox - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

bio	website	foxfirekitty.wordpress.com
	location	New England
	age	36
visits	member for	2 years
	seen	3 hours ago
stats	profile views	1,848

	15,756 reputation	bio	website	foxfirekitty.wordpress.com	visits	member for	2 years
243112 badges		location	New England		seen	3 hours ago

4

50

votes

4

answers

5

kviews

How did Americans greet each other before “Hi”?

jul 26 at 18:28 b.roth 11.5k

1

26

votes

4

answers

5

kviews

What does “P.U.” (in reference to stinkiness) stand for?

etymology abbreviations

dec 31 '11 at 13:40 Community♦ 1

5

23

votes

3

answers

833

views

What purpose does an '-o' serve?

suffixes

may 12 at 20:59 StoneyB 20.5k

3

22

votes

3

answers

721

views

Words with a leading silent w

pronunciation orthography

jan 4 at 10:27 RegDwighт♦ 45.3k

1

21

votes

8

answers

2

kviews

Does “yar” (or “yarr” or “yargh”) in Pirate English imply an affirmative?

meaning exclamations pirate-english

aug 20 at 11:16 Cees Timmerman 289

1

20

votes

2

answers

1

kviews

Attorney at law, is there any other kind?

meaning vocabulary

jun 28 '11 at 21:13 kiamlaluno 28.7k

2

18

votes

3

answers

893

views

Make like a banana

humor pun simile

feb 5 at 1:26 Jon Hanna 12.4k

1

14

votes

4

answers

575

views

How did English get the “What is your name?” construction?

etymology phrases history

mar 19 '12 at 19:01 jwpat7 37k

2

14

votes

1

answer

373

views

Is the pronunciation of the letters “Y” and “I” supposed to be identical?

pronunciation phonology vowels greek

sep 12 '11 at 1:42 simchona♦ 22.2k

13

votes

6

answers

4

kviews

Distinction between “pillage” and “plunder”

meaning differences pirate-english

apr 9 at 15:14 RegDwighт♦ 45.3k

13

votes

3

answers

192

views

History and usage of “dooryard”

history dialects usage

dec 27 at 23:46 Hugo 30.8k

12

votes

3

answers

2

kviews

Origin of “quarters” in the sense of living area

etymology history

aug 19 at 5:44 Community♦ 1

1

12

votes

5

answers

2

kviews

Is it “close-minded” or “closed-minded”?

word-choice

aug 8 at 12:56 Mitch 23.1k

12

votes

4

answers

477

views

The history of “softcore”

etymology history

jun 19 '12 at 21:50 Charles 1,414

11

votes

2

answers

4

kviews

Word formation with the nominal suffix -tion: when and why do we insert an “a”?

suffixes word-formation

sep 2 '11 at 11:42 KitFox♦ 15.8k

1

10

votes

2

answers

4

kviews

Why is the right jack in cribbage also called “his Knobs”?

terminology history games

oct 19 '11 at 23:52 Community♦ 1

1

10

votes

5

answers

5

kviews

Is there a semantic difference between “pedophile” and “pederast”?

differences

may 25 '11 at 16:21 KitFox♦ 15.8k

9

votes

4

answers

770

views

What is the origin of “tall tale”?

etymology phrases

jan 15 at 21:28 Hugo 30.8k

8

votes

2

answers

175

views

Is 'worse' the only comparative that has neither -er nor more?

etymology comparative word-formation

mar 8 at 16:39 John Lawler 35.5k

8

votes

3

answers

134

views

What's the upshot?

meaning etymology

jan 1 at 13:04 Hugo 30.8k

1

8

votes

3

answers

2

kviews

Where does “on one's last legs” come from?

etymology idioms

dec 5 at 12:12 RegDwighт♦ 45.3k

8

votes

3

answers

1

kviews

How to understand “after” in “A man after my own heart”

meaning-in-context

sep 4 '11 at 4:46 Community♦ 1

7

votes

1

answer

545

views

Origin of the word “shill” (“shillaber”)

etymology

apr 2 '12 at 12:09 Hugo 30.8k

1

6

votes

1

answer

215

views

Non-rhotic dialects and intrusive r

dialects non-rhotic intrusive-r

apr 10 at 0:30 Colin Fine 23.4k

6

votes

5

answers

1

kviews

That which is vulgar, obscene, or profane (title reflects contents)

differences offensive-language

jan 19 '12 at 23:23 Community♦ 1

6

votes

4

answers

3

kviews

Difference between “On your mark, get set, go” and “Ready, steady, go”

phrases differences

jul 12 '11 at 15:31 KeithS 6,758

5

votes

4

answers

315

views

Is “observant” exclusive to vision?

word-choice meaning etymology

aug 15 at 16:41 Edwin Ashworth 5,250

4

votes

10

answers

3

kviews

Is “Am I needing to. . . ?” grammatical?

grammaticality grammatical-structure

apr 6 at 14:43 tchrist 36.4k

4

votes

2

answers

120

views

Usage of hain't

slang dialects usage

dec 31 at 8:51 Barrie England 78.9k

1

4

votes

4

answers

394

views

What do you call the exploitation of ambiguous statements to form a logical argument?

word-choice phrases rhetoric

nov 8 '11 at 16:33 Jay 19.4k

KitFox

34 Questions