Questions tagged [expression-choice]
Choosing the best phrase FROM A GIVEN SELECTION for a particular context or meaning.
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Is there a term for someone who "can see multiple perspectives"?
A colleague of mine is trying to describe herself as "capable of seeing a situation from multiple perspectives" or "able to look at the big picture from various viewpoints". I feel like there must be ...
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When to use "the" in front of plural demonyms? "Americans" vs "the Americans" vs "the American people"?
When do you use the before plural demonymic expressions like "Americans", "British people" or "Chinese people"?
Chinese people celebrate Lunar New Year on the first days ...
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What's the English equivalent of the Japanese saying, “A fart ruins 100 days of sermons by the priest (bishop)”?
I was amused by the expression "Paid a penny and only farted" (related by @FumbleFingers), which suggested a similar Japanese saying: 大山鳴動鼠一匹 - "Find only a small mouse coming out after hearing ...
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Is there a term I can use for a boss's favorite employee?
Over dinner tonight, one of the guests was describing herself as her boss's favorite employee, and asked for a term to describe this. As the only guest who spoke English as a first language, the ...
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Word for the situation of being unable to pass opposing pedestrian, as you both start to step same direction
Is there a word or expression in English, which describes the situation, when you can't pass a stranger, who is walking towards you on the street, because you both start to step the same direction?
...
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Are "Fish in a barrel" and "Sitting ducks" similar?
Do the phrases "Fish in a barrel" and "Sitting ducks" convey the same thing?
In my opinion, they have the same tone and express something to be an easy target.
Eg:
Out there, they are just fish in ...
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What can we call those ladies?
I am looking for a word or expression to describe those ladies, usually high society ladies, whose main aim in life is to find a good match for marriage and whose main activity is organising lunches ...
user66974
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"Me too" or "I as well" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it correct to use “me too” and “I too”?
Which one is correct to use Me too or I as well?
For example - Suppose my friend says I want to go there ...
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answer
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Connotations of "hungry for X" and "thirsty for X." [closed]
Does "hungry for X" have different connotations than "thirsty for X"?
I did a few Google searches and found that "hungry for X" outdoes "thirsty for X" by about 250% with most values I tried for X.
...
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answers
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Does OP mean “original poster” or “original post”?
In an online forum, OP means "original poster," but can it also mean "original post?"
For example, instead of saying
To answer the OP's original question...
could one instead say
To answer ...
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A word for a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh
There is a word for this in Indonesian language: jayus.
(Maybe, it is used in Filipino and Malaysian language also.)
It is a joke that is so bad, it's funny. It is often mentioned as untranslatable....
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Is there a difference between "way of doing something" and "way to do something"?
Is there a difference between "way of doing something" and "way to do something"?
It is on purpose that I did not write "a way of doing something" or "the way of doing something" and "a way to do ...
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Non-religious equivalent expression for "Pray for [Country X]" after a disaster
When a big disaster occurs in a country, you can often see messages saying:
Pray for [Country X]
Are people really writing this to incite people to ask their God for anything?
For instance ...
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Should I use "half the time" or "half of the time"? [closed]
If I wanted to say that someone finished in 30 minutes when they had one hour to complete a given task, should I say "he did it in half the time" or "he did it in half of the time"?
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Is there another expression for "my manager's manager"?
As the title says, is there another expression for "my manager's manager"?
For example, in the large company I currently work for, there are 4 managers and the CEO above me.
If there is no single ...
user102633
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Is there a word for someone who is usually in the minority?
My original question was "Is there a legitimate word for 'a balancer'?" but I think it's a little hard to understand...
Let's just say there is a person, and most of the time, he is in the minority. ...
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"Both which" or "both of which"
"This can be done using the technique of Peters, and using the
technique of Matthews, both which involve mathematics"
Having searched "both which" and "both of which" in ...
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How to describe a person in a situation in which he does not completely know what he is doing?
How can we describe a person doing or communicating something without (really) knowing what he is doing or talking about? This could be either because of some indisposition like for example ...
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"He will come back in two hours" vs. "He will come back after two hours"
He will come back in two hours.
vs.
He will come back after two hours.
What's the subtle diff?
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Close by or nearby? [closed]
The cops traced residential address of his relatives who lived close
by.
Close up/down, close off, close in are terms well understood, I have not seen such usage of close + by.
Would it be better ...
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Short expression to convey "but consider the source"
Is there a short phrase (one to three words), Latin or otherwise, that conveys "but consider the source"?
For example, "I heard that pigs fly on television (your phrase here)."
I'm thinking perhaps ...
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answers
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What do you call a person who motivates or inspires?
My choices so far:
motivational source
inspirational source
source of motivation
source of inspiration
Being a non-native speaker, I don't know which one to use. What I want to say is that somebody ...
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Term for Only "Unbelieved Warner"
I'm looking for a word, phrase, or idiom to describe a person or fictional device.
In stories, especially horror and fantasy, there can be a character who is dismissed when they try to tell others ...
user39720
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18
answers
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Term for "will consume time and almost certainly yield nothing"
Can anyone point to an eloquent word or term that means "will consume time and almost certainly yield nothing"?
Could be used in response to:
I'm going to have one of the developers contact Apple ...
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12
answers
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Ways of saying "You don't have to be a rocket scientist" [closed]
I'm trying to find different ways of saying that "You don't have to be a rocket scientist", but I can't seem to get any good ideas.
I got a variation, "You don't have to be a brain surgeon...," but ...
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How else can I express the concept of ' just to be on the safe side'
I always use this expression when I want to say that I just want to be prudent about something. Are there other ways to convey the same concept, other idioms or expressions I can use alternatively?
user66974
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"Going down the rathole" vs. "Going down the rabbit hole."
I hear/read the phrase "going down a/the rathole" used as a synonym for the phrase "going down a/the rabbit hole," the later taken from chapter 1 - "Down the Rabbit Hole" ...
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Historical and contemporary usage of "don't" for the third singular person
The following extract from M-W Learner's Dictionary comments on the usage of "don't":
Don't is occasionally used in American English speech and in historical writing as a contraction of does ...
user66974
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Idiom/expression for changing the subject in a conversation
Is there an idiom/expression in English for changing the subject in a conversation (and if possible, in a sarcastic way)?
For example, there is an expression in Turkish: gelelim fasulyenin ...
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What does the most common usage of 'Korea' mean in modern-day English-speaking world?
On Meta.Travel.SE, we have a debate whether our 'Korea' tag should be mapped to 'South Korea'. One of the answers - from the moderator who made the synonym mapping - is that common usage of the word '...
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To know something "inside out" or "inside and out"?
As a native English speaker (Australia) I've always known and used the expression "to know something inside out", meaning "to know thoroughly".
Just now when editing a post on another SE site that ...
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Is there another way of saying "less is more"?
Is there another way of saying “less is more" in the following context?
They changed their packaging and left only the essential branding on it. It epitomizes "less is more".
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How suffixes like -ness and -ship are chosen when forming abstract nouns?
In some programming situations I came across making up abstract nouns to give name to an information that indicates some quality. Eg. if the quality is orange one may be tempted to form the word ...
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Proper usage of "passed" vs "passed away"
The current popular verb for someone who has died is to say they "passed." It sounds incorrect to me -- isn't the proper terminology "passed-away"? I've noticed that people on TV and people under 30 ...
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"More precisely" usage [closed]
After describing a certain issue in a more general manner I want to outline the inner details of it. Is it correct to start the paragraph whose purpose it is to give to the reader the detailed ...
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"Converted PDF file" - what does it really mean?
I can press Ctrl+P on my keyboard and save this HTML page as PDF. Would it be correct to call such a file a converted PDF file? Or does the word converted mean that the file was converted from PDF to ...
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Word for a friend you have never met?
Can anyone provide "emotional" word/phrase for a "friend" you have never met, but it feels like you really know him? I won't mind even if it was in a language other than English. :)
Update: Would ...
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answer
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If I go to a Language School, do I go to school?
My friend, aged 21, has just started taking classes at a language school, and will shortly be doing 4 hours each weekday there. It feels very odd to be saying "How's school going?" – we finished ...
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What is the difference between 'next to' and 'by'?
There was a table by the window.
/ There was a table next to the window.
They live by the lake. / They live next to the lake.
When should you use by and when next to? Why?
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Lost In Punctuation
Usually, when a piece of text is translated from one language to some other language, and (due to slightly different idioms, phrases, words, etc.) the end meaning is changed, then it is attributed to ...
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Is "Neither I you" Correct?
A friend of mine said "...I never saw you during school."
For some reason I wanted to respond "Neither I you." I am certain I have heard this reply before, but, looking at it now, it does not seem ...
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Is absence of the person needed in "On someone's behalf"?
In the middle of a conversation he had with my father, [Mr. X] asked him: “What does your son want to do in future?”. “He wants to do religious studies,” my father replied.
He talked on my behalf ...
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Term for a choice that you like and you dislike?
First Q here. If this has been asked before sorry (Did search)
Term for a choice that you like and you dislike? And you can/would probably only take the choice you like.
For example:
A justice ...
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Using "of" before "whether" and general usage of "whether"
I was reading a mathematics text, and I came across a phrase which I thought was written incorrectly. There was a part of a sentence:
... it begs the question whether or not A=B.
and I feel this ...
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answer
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How good an experience vs. How good of an experience [duplicate]
Which one of these sentences is considered to be more correct?
1) You cannot imagine how good an experience that has been.
or
2) You cannot imagine how good of an experience that has been.
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What is the best way to say that something was done in teamwork?
In my resume, I'm describing several projects I've worked on in the past. Most
of them were done in teamwork. What is the best way to say this?
Examples:
Together with XY, I built ... OR
In ...
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Is use of "Oriental" racism? [duplicate]
I've heard that the word Oriental, if used to people, is racism.
Is it true? And if it is, why?
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"next two weeks" vs. "in 14 days from now"
Which one is most appropriate and why?
I will have my laptop next two weeks.
Or
I will have my laptop in 14 days from now.
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How about 'play cute' or 'play adorable'?
I wonder if 'play cute' or 'play adorable' is frequently used to stand for 'act cute/adorable' in spoken language. It seems easier to google out 'act cute/adorable' instead of 'play cute/adorable'.
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Difference between "What time do you come to class every day?" and "What time do you go to class every day?"
Could someone please explain me the difference between the following?
A: What time do you go to class every day? B: At 8:00
A: What time do you come to class every day? B: At 8:00
I ...
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