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-1 votes

Is it more common for the noun "research" to be stressed on the first or second syllable among educated native speakers of American English?

This is a great topic because it highlights the difference between formal/standard and informal American English. It also speaks to how people are educated regarding grammar and the pronunciation of ...
Mawakana Onifade's user avatar
1 vote

Is the expression "get shed of" or "get shut of" or "get shot of"?

My paternal grandmother was from Western Kentucky; they moved to Evansville, Indiana during WW2 when my grandfather left coal mining to work in a factory. We visited every summer during the 60s and ...
hlrgrl's user avatar
  • 11
2 votes

Meaning of "low, cherry voices" in Stephen King's 'The Jaunt'

Yes, this seems to be a typo in some editions or online versions. This PDF of the book, from a Maine school district, has the line: Five Jaunt attendants circulated, speaking in low, cheery voices ...
alphabet's user avatar
  • 13.6k
0 votes

Meaning of "low, cherry voices" in Stephen King's 'The Jaunt'

From context, cherry seems to be a typo for chary: chary adj. 4.a. Careful, cautious, circumspect, wary. 6. Careful not to waste or part with, frugal, sparing (of). Source: Oxford English Dictionary (...
Tinfoil Hat's user avatar
  • 14.3k
0 votes

What are the exclamation and question marks/points called in variants of English?

As Ngram shows, American English typically uses "exclamation point" but "question mark." British English, by contrast, uses "mark" in both cases.
alphabet's user avatar
  • 13.6k
-1 votes

What are the exclamation and question marks/points called in variants of English?

Someone said they never heard of exclamation point in America. That's funny because I was born here and have lived here for 60 years and it's always been called an exclamation point, all through ...
Fred99999's user avatar
-2 votes

Are there /ɔ/ and /ʌ/ sounds in informal American English?

There are no pure or standard /ɔ/ and /ʌ/ anywhere in the English speaking world, especially in USA. (/ɔ/ and /ʌ/ are graphical and conventionl conventions for a lot of allophones. I hope it make ...
Călin Cucuietu's user avatar
1 vote

Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?

An idiom you might use is get short shrift, although there's probably a large chunk of your audience who will be back here asking what it means. One of its meanings is "get little attention"....
TimR's user avatar
  • 2,288
1 vote

Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?

Consider changing "Dogs are not commonly discussed as much as cats" to "People discuss cats more than dogs." 6 words, not 9; 8 syllables, not 12; 29 letters, not 39. Brevity aside,...
WilliamNiver's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?

The phrase receive less attention than would work here and save you a few words. Ultimately, though, this is all a matter of taste.
alphabet's user avatar
  • 13.6k
2 votes

Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?

You can reduce the verbiage by using a comparative form. If you change "not commonly" to "less frequently", then you can reduce "as much as" to "than": ...
MarcInManhattan's user avatar
0 votes

Synonyms for "put somebody through their paces"?

There's dry run, which means to test someone or something in a manner that doesn't jeopardize anything already in place, or in a manner that if something does go wrong, the damage can be contained, if ...
TimR's user avatar
  • 2,288
3 votes
Accepted

Is “I bind round” correct to say?

When citing a verb in Greek or Latin, the custom is to take the first Principal Part of the verb as its name. In both Greek and Latin, the first principal part of a verb is its first person singular ...
John Lawler's user avatar
1 vote

Is “I bind round” correct to say?

Yes, I bind round is an independent clause with an intransitive verb in the first person singular. round is a variant of around. round is also intransitive there, a preposition. If a radio could ...
TimR on a different device's user avatar
6 votes

Is “I bind round” correct to say?

I don’t know Greek, so can’t address the accuracy of the translation. But I bind round does have a grammatically correct reading. For example, the sentence I bind round your head a crown of flowers ...
PaulTanenbaum's user avatar
0 votes

caught-cot merger: can "lawyer" sound like "lier"?

logic suggests "lawyer" should sound like /lɑjɚ/, as "lawyer" is basically "law" + "yer" Since when is English pronunciation logical? As Wiktionary notes, ...
alphabet's user avatar
  • 13.6k
0 votes

Is Iroquoi the origin of the American idiom “cuts no ice with me”?

I’m gratified that people took the trouble to research this, but I took it to be humor. Stephen has apparently heard the use of an American word “riz” as the past tense of “raise” and uses it to test ...
Etaoin Shrdlu's user avatar
2 votes

Is it correct to say "research competitor products" or "research competitors' products"?

There is a significant difference in meaning between competing products (which was suggested in the comments a supposedly superior, since more "popular", alternative) and competitors' ...
Sebastian E's user avatar

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