Questions tagged [expressions]
This tag is for questions about expressions. Expressions are words or phrases used to convey an idea, or else a particular term used conventionally to express something. Consider phrase-requests and expression-requests if you are looking for an expression, phrase-meaning if you are unsure about the usage of a given phrase.
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"Like Apples and Oranges" -- two completely different things or nominally similar but really different? [closed]
I note that Apples and Oysters was an old variant and this would be two extremely different things while Apples and Oranges, both spherical fruits of similar size, are quite similar.
Could this phrase ...
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3
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Etymology and meaning of the word "stretch" in sentences like "We should eat before the final stretch"
What is the origin of stretch as it is used in the following sentence?
We should eat before the final stretch.
In this context, final stretch is used to mean 'last segment', or 'the effort needed ...
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'Who's a clever girl!' vs. 'Who's a clever girl?' [duplicate]
Does the punctuation mark at the end change the meaning and intonation?
Do we have similar structures like 'Who's a clever girl!", where the word order suggests the interrogative sentence?
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difference between rinse and rinse off
Is there any difference between 'rinse' and 'rinse off'? I searched many places and didn't find any obvious differences
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1
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How did the verb "take" come to mean "to undertake and make, do, or perform"?
One of the senses of the verb take is:
to undertake and make, do, or perform.
take a walk
take aim
take legal action
take a test
take a look
[sense 17a, Merriam-Webster]
It is an idiomatic usage. ...
user486022
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Is this a cleft sentence?
Is this a cleft sentence or a "preparatory it"?
It was my tablet which I didn't realize had fallen off the bed and on the floor.
Is it correct?
I think it should leave out the structure &...
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1
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Can 'something else' be used negatively?
I've used the expression "to be something else" in a lot of different contexts. I'm wondering now whether sometimes I have used it wrongly.
This is when I have said it to refer to someone as ...
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Converse phrase for "in writing" [closed]
Is there an converse phrase to "in writing", in the sense of completing a task or a calculation in-writing? This should have the sense of "in explicit thought, but not in physical ...
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What's a phrase that describes a person who keeps making attempts doomed to fail because they don't want their previous work to have been for nothing?
What's a phrase that describes a person who keeps making repeated attempts that they know are doomed to fail because they don't want all of their previous effort to have been for nothing?
They feel ...
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Understanding of -pants vs. "pants" in UK speakers
My wife, a native Spanish speaker, today asked me about why a youtuber would call themselves 'craftypants'.
I explained that -pants was added to something as synecdoche, so for example an intelligent ...
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Is there an expression in English for saying "to make your own mistakes"? [duplicate]
In Russian, we say "to have one's bumps" when we mean that someone makes their own mistakes, thus getting experience and learning from their errors. Is there anything similar to that in ...
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Searching for words/phrases/expressions to describe competitive struggling
You know how when you talk to someone about a bad time you're going through, and they feel the urge to one-up you to achieve some sort of imaginary victory point?
E.g.
School is challenging because I ...
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What's this about bromide? [closed]
What's this about bromide? It was suggested as a word representing stating the obvious. I'm not familiar with this expression. English is not my first language.
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A "change in scenery" or a "change of scenery"? Are both forms of this sort of expression truly correct? I know the latter one is, but the former? [closed]
As my title says, is a "change in scenery" as correct as a "change of scenery"? I am self-conscious of how a "change in" might sound odd or off or be even absolutely ...
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Question about English grammar [closed]
I was discussing with some friends about English grammar, and we ended up confused about the accuracy of the sentences below
"I know the motive for your rescheduling the class"
"I know ...
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Origin of "get back on terms"
I'm interested in finding the origin of the phrase "get back on terms". Commentators in the Tour de France and other big bike races use it all the time. I understand it in context; its ...
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Is there a word for a person who can recognize valuable items that can be sold for much more than the current price?
We go to thrift stores & yard sales a lot. My 15-year-old has a knack for instantly recognizing items that are very valuable, and she's been doing it since she was 8. She found an original drawing ...
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Is Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" the first to connect cursing and turning blue? [duplicate]
Twain's book appeared in 1883. The penultimate sentence in chapter X, Completing My Education,
These people brought up their lantern, then, of course; and as we backed and filled to get away, the ...
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Is "volume bar", "volume slider” and “volume rocker" the same thing on mobile phones?
I just came across the words from the site "https://www.androidpolice.com/gmail-mark-all-messages-read/", which indicate, as for me the same thing but by using different words in the article ...
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A word to describe a person who loves anything related to celebrities/gossips/trends and is easily affected by them
I'd like to know a word to describe a person who loves celebrities, gossips, trends or anything that is popular and is
easily affected by them.
She said she had moved to Paris because she loved "...
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Is there a phrase that describes a problem that becomes more and more complicated the further you investigate/look into it? [duplicate]
I'm looking for a phrase that describes a problem whose complexity starts to increase exponentially, either because the problem is recursive, the definitions/conditions of the problem interlink with ...
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"The boil must be lanced if it is to heal"? [closed]
In Final Fantasy 16 (FFXVI), which has a medieval-ish setting, C says that "The boil must be lanced if it is to heal". I'm...not sure I understand the phrase.
For context, C is in a ...
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"Don't rock the boat" attitude [duplicate]
When someone tends to hesitate to acknowledge a problem and avoid involving trouble even if needed, is it ok to say in a negative nuance that
He/She always has a "don't rock the boat" ...
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Looking for idioms [closed]
Is there an idiom for someone who's doing you a favor with someone else’s property or money?
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Expression for void filling welcome change
Is there an adjective/expression that conveys the meaning that this something fills a role/place that should have been filled long ago because of its high added value?
For example: "The ____ ...
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1
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Proper phrasing for - top X% of Y based on Z
Suppose I have a list of pupils and 3 types of scores (academic, discipline, sports) for each student.
Is there a better way to write - the top 1% of students based on sports performance?
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What's the English equivalent of the Italian 'sputare nel piatto dove si mangia'?
There's an Italian expression, 'sputare nel piatto dove si mangia', that literally means 'to spit on the plate where you eat', but really means:
to have an attitude of contempt, of strong criticism ...
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Meaning and usage of "head(s) AND tails above"?
I've come across the expression "head(s) and tails above" (the rest, the competition etc; different from something like "can't make head or tail of something" i.e. can't figure it ...
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Perfect participle
The first pair of these sentences with perfect participles, shows a reason while the second shows a time, and this is how the teacher taught me their meaning, so I want to know why one is reason and ...
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Use of "hill to die on"
I recently heard this expression for the first time, and I'm wondering what's the correct way/s of using it, when it comes to constructing a sentence that includes it. I would like to know how "...
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What do we call an object that is going to be, or is being, or has been consolidated?
What do we call an object that is a member in the action of consolidation?
Is "consolidatee" a word?
For example, I have two sets of objects that are going to be consolidated into one single ...
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What is "and therefore profits"?
I have read an article called "Stocks have shrugged off the banking turmoil. Haven’t they?" in The Economist newspaper, but I find it hard to understand the meaning of a sentence.
The ...
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Is this phrase ambiguous "up to 15 mins prior to"? [duplicate]
I came across this sentence.
"Click here to visit the event page and select 'Join now' up to 15 minutes prior to start time."
What does that really mean? That we should join in the last 15 ...
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What terms describe humorous acceptance of a compliment?
My wife complimented a chef on his delicate fish cookery last night.
Reply: "They're great, these boil-in-the-bag dishes."
I complimented a violinist on his performance recently and ...
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Why can say "diminishing weakened"? [closed]
The resource as:
However, the ability of the rainforest to pull in more carbon than it releases is diminishing weakened by changing weather patterns, deforeststation and increasing tree mortality, ...
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What does the phrase "A blank is a blank is a blank" mean?
I've heard this phrase a couple times, one of them being
A number is a number is a number.
Despite some searching, I'm still unsure what this phrase means.
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You parked this under a tree, huh?
During a border-crossing car stop, in a verbal interaction between a US citizen and a peace officer, the peace officer can be heard to use the expression in the title.
"You parked us under a ...
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4
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"T minus"-expression used with preposition "in"?
"Rocket launch in T minus 1 hour".
I have a problem with how this expression is used here. Native speakers have told me that this is natural, however online definitions tell me that "T ...
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1
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Does "It would be the last time..." refer to the past or the present?
From my understanding, in direct speech/conversation (not as a narrative), "That would be the last time..." refer to the past event, and "This would be the last time..." refers to ...
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Is the use of the phrase 'There is no woman like me' for this content correct?
If someone wants to say that no one looks as beautiful as her, is it correct to write it like this?
"There's no woman like me."
For example, if I write a dialog like this, does that reply ...
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What does 'put a notch on his belt' mean? Is it a common expression?
The following is an excerpt from the USA Today of March 31.
Donald Trump's lawyer said Friday that the former president will surrender to New York authorities.
Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told NBC'...
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What is the opposite of et seq.?
What Latin-derived abbreviation could be used in place of "and the previous ones" or "and the predecessors" i.e., the opposite of et seq.?
I can't start from the other end and use ...
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Algebraic interpretation of ambiguous verbal expressions [closed]
I am helping my daughter with Algebra. She has been asked to generate algebraic expressions for each of the following verbal statements:
"Five times the quantity of x squared plus m, minus two ...
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Could you let me know what does mean this "Need your hip waders to walk into a room"? [closed]
Could you let me know what does mean this "Need your hip waders to walk into a room" ?
Probably, someone talked a lot. and room is full of after someone talks.
And could you show me some ...
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What kind of statements are “the best pie I’ve ever eaten” and “the most beautiful mountain I’ve seen in my life” [closed]
My partner always makes statements such as those in heading. They are always sensationalised to create emphasis and drive home his enthusiasm for the subject. For example we were discussing Florence ...
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Is "throw in an ape" an expression?
In her book Toward Zero, author Agatha Christie has the following dialogue:
Kay said: ‘I don’t like my colour scheme in the livingroom. Can I have it done over, Nevile?’
‘Anything you like, beautiful....
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What does the conjunction As describe in this passage? [duplicate]
I'm not a native English speaker, so I have to find a solution for what I don't understand. sometimes a conjunction like AS is used in different ways which requires attention, so I go to ...
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In the Yakuza games, they say that "the first penguin" is a term of respect in America. Is this true?
In "Yakuza: Lost Judgement", they talk about how penguins all bunch up next to the water, but won't jump in. It's only once the "first penguin" jumps in that all of the rest feel ...
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What do you call the place that terminates a water channel?
What do you call the place that terminates a water channel, as in the image below?
The channel terminates at the concrete wall. What is the name of that? Channel terminator? Channel barrier?
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Is there an idiom to say "However hard we try/ teach, nothing goes in"?
He seems to learn nothing. However hard we teach, nothing goes in.
Is there a word equivalent, an idiom or expression to say "however hard we try/teach, nothing goes in"?
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