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English Language & Usage

Notable Question

 Notable Question
Question with 2,500 views. This badge can be awarded multiple times.

earned this badge 38 times.
In 18th century England, was "eat" the past tense of "eat" and how was it pronounced?
Awarded May 24, 2023 at 12:04
Term for a word that is unintentionally made up of two or more other words?
Awarded Mar 9, 2023 at 5:03
When and where did "clam" come to mean a missed note in a musical performance?
Awarded Mar 7, 2023 at 19:51
"Boy howdy!" Where did this expression come from, who uses it, and what does it convey?
Awarded Feb 21, 2023 at 19:42
Matryoshka words
Awarded Feb 9, 2022 at 6:26
How and when did "jug" come to be a slang term for "prison"?
Awarded Jan 9, 2022 at 15:51
Is there such a thing as Intrusive-L (as opposed to Intrusive-R)?
Awarded Nov 10, 2021 at 9:36
Where does the expression "to shine someone on" come from? And does it have racist origins?
Awarded Aug 19, 2021 at 0:21
When and where did "bad boy" start being used to mean something impressive, e.g. "Let's take this bad boy out for a spin!"
Awarded Jul 31, 2021 at 7:16
Is the split in pronunciation of "detail" regional, semantic, or irrelevant?
Awarded Jul 20, 2021 at 19:42
Do Brits understand rhyming slang or are they sometimes puzzled by it too?
Awarded Nov 18, 2020 at 20:33
Is there a pessimistic counterpart to the term "Pollyanna"?
Awarded Mar 5, 2020 at 20:45
The hidden flaw in "singular they"—what to do about reflexive pronouns?
Awarded Oct 16, 2019 at 18:20
"Carved from the living rock" — since when was rock ever alive?
Awarded Sep 17, 2019 at 23:25
Diacritics and non-English letters in anglicized loan words: keep 'em, dump 'em, italicize the words, or what?
Awarded Apr 28, 2019 at 9:50
How do you tell when you're reading a poor translation?
Awarded Apr 22, 2019 at 12:45
When did "a buck" start being used to mean any unit of 100? (E.g. "a buck fifty" for 150 lbs.)
Awarded Sep 19, 2018 at 13:40
Does the 18th century contraction "on't" survive phonologically in English today?
Awarded Mar 15, 2018 at 7:36
Where did we get "buster" as in "Look here, buster"?
Awarded Nov 24, 2017 at 13:33
The "old switcheroo": Where did the "-eroo" suffix come from?
Awarded Nov 18, 2017 at 19:05
When and how did we start getting "off the dime"?
Awarded Sep 10, 2017 at 1:58
"Soft-peddle" vs. "Soft-pedal": eggcorn blunder or sly play on words?
Awarded Apr 7, 2017 at 20:29
Does the quirky spelling in English actually make it easier to read?
Awarded Aug 2, 2016 at 20:11
"Consists of" vs. "consists in": different meanings of the verb, or the same meaning applied differently?
Awarded Jul 23, 2016 at 8:03
Differing pronunciations of "divisive"
Awarded Jul 9, 2016 at 12:59
What do the British mean by "bolshie"?
Awarded Jan 5, 2016 at 21:39
Does a "fact" have to be true?
Awarded May 29, 2015 at 13:01
Why do we say "try and" [verb] instead of "try to" [verb]? (E.g., "Try and call me tomorrow.")
Awarded Mar 12, 2015 at 7:30
Punctuating question tags: A question mark is always required, isn't it. (Well, isn't it?)
Awarded Dec 23, 2014 at 22:06
Is it ever worth the time and effort to correct someone else's grating grammatical mistakes? [closed]
Awarded Jul 16, 2014 at 14:15
"I'm sure" vs. "I'm for sure": Who uses which, and when?
Awarded Apr 7, 2014 at 16:15
Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?
Awarded Feb 27, 2014 at 22:44
Just how offensive are the terms "retarded" and "gay"?
Awarded Jan 14, 2014 at 19:30
Types of things vs. types of thing
Awarded Jun 11, 2013 at 8:02
"Close the light" — regionalism or mere oddity?
Awarded Apr 23, 2013 at 2:14
Use of "deadpool" as a verb
Awarded Mar 27, 2013 at 3:52
How do the tens­es and as­pects in English cor­re­spond tem­po­ral­ly to one an­oth­er?
Awarded Feb 20, 2013 at 18:34
"Money for rope" ... meaning and derivation?
Awarded Feb 4, 2013 at 15:56

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