153
votes
Accepted
Why are names starting with a "J" common, while words starting with a "J" are uncommon?
A lot of the "J" names in English are from the Bible and would have originally been written with an initial I in Latin, as the letter J did not get started until the Renaissance. In modern ...
- 1,548
116
votes
Accepted
Why is Nebraska listed after other states?
My guess is this: the table was produced from a database. The data there was sorted by state, but using a stored value that was the state abbreviation (they would have used the US Postal Service's ...
- 4,642
93
votes
Accepted
Why do we call it "combination lock"?
Because most people are not mathematicians.
I know that sounds like a flippant answer, but it's genuinely the answer. There are many words which have a more precise (or even different) meaning for ...
- 76.5k
82
votes
Accepted
How should I spell Zelensky?
is there a 'correct' spelling of his name?
In practice, no one spelling of the Ukrainian president's name in English is treated by all as the single 'correct' spelling. You'll need to make a choice ...
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79
votes
Accepted
What is "a room a company provides for eating food" called?
They would be a "breakroom", or "break room" a place where staff go when they have their breaks.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/breakroom
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59
votes
What is "a room a company provides for eating food" called?
In the UK I have heard this referred to almost exclusively as the "canteen".
The dictionary definition for canteen states:
"a restaurant provided by an organization such as a college, factory, or ...
- 1,163
59
votes
Why and when did 'Down's Syndrome' change to 'Down Syndrome'?
This is a general phenomenon and is not limited to Down Syndrome. Here is a reasonable explanation from a doctor:
The medical profession has urged since the 1970s the dropping of the possessive S at ...
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50
votes
Why do we call it "combination lock"?
combination is an unordered set of numbers
That is incorrect in general English.
It is called a combination lock because (in general English)
a combination is "an ordered sequence" (Merriam-Webster ...
- 735
48
votes
What is "a room a company provides for eating food" called?
Lunch room
lunch room
n.
a room, as in a school or workplace, where light meals or snacks can be bought or where food brought from home may be eaten.
Source
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32
votes
Accepted
Why and when did 'Down's Syndrome' change to 'Down Syndrome'?
Some relevant articles: "Whose name is it anyway? Varying patterns of possessive usage in eponymous neurodegenerative diseases", by Michael R. MacAskill and Tim J. Anderson (2013), and "...
- 79.2k
30
votes
What is "a room a company provides for eating food" called?
Consider cafeteria.
a lunchroom or dining hall, as in a factory, office, or school, where food is served from counters or dispensed from vending machines OR where food brought from home may be eaten. ...
- 43k
28
votes
Moving the lower case ‘c’ up flush with the ‘M’ in the last name MᶜNeil?
I believe this is because the name element (now) usually expressed "Mc" is an abbreviation for "Mac"; at one time, superscript (often with an underline or under dots) was a common ...
- 22.7k
25
votes
What does "Mrs" mean when used with a man's name?
Josh61 is 100% right, however, I would like to point out that even today, in formal circumstances especially, it's still custom and valid to address a wife as Mrs. [Husband Name].
My wife goes by:
...
- 1,959
24
votes
Does the word “uzi” need to be capitalized?
Why is Uzi capitalized? It comes from a name, and people haven't frequently used it in lowercase in publication.
First, the name is derived from a person's name. These usually retain their ...
- 38.8k
20
votes
Moving the lower case ‘c’ up flush with the ‘M’ in the last name MᶜNeil?
Pronunciation.
The 'upper-C' is a type of diacritical mark. In the 'good old days' this used to have a line under the superscript C called macron. All these tend to alter the actual pronunciation of ...
- 2,875
20
votes
Accepted
What is a small tent kind of shop on the side of the road called?
pushcart
A type of cart with wheels that you manually push.
Dictionary.com says the term is primarily used in the US and in Canada
mainly US and Canadian a handcart, typically having two wheels and a ...
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19
votes
What term would you use to indicate a maiden name you weren't born with?
Consider, formerly.
in time past; in an earlier period or age; previously. Random House
Jane Miller formerly Smith WikiTree
- 43k
18
votes
Accepted
Opposite of an eponym
"Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their name. It predicts, for example, that because of their names, the scientists Splatt and ...
- 23k
18
votes
How should I spell Zelensky?
The Ukrainian spelling is Зеленський, and the final й does have a different sound from the и immediately before it. It's not actually a different syllable, more a final relaxation; Wikipedia has IPA [...
- 100k
17
votes
Accepted
Why did some stigmatized theophoric names survive in English?
I don't think your etymology is correct. The name of the Canaanite god was Baal, with a glottal stop represented with the Hebrew letter ayin בַּעַל (Ba-al) which I don't think corresponds with the ...
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16
votes
Which singular names ending in “s” form possessives with only a bare apostrophe?
Bryan Garner, Garner's Modern American Usage, second edition (2003) offers the following discussion of how to handle possessive proper names ending in -s:
POSSESSIVES. A. Singular Possessives. To ...
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15
votes
Why are names starting with a "J" common, while words starting with a "J" are uncommon?
A further point is that many of these names are essentially the same name. Your list of 18 names:
Jack, Jackie, Jackson, Jill, Janet, Jeremy, Jeremiah, Jake, Jesus, Jacob, Jock, John, Johnny, Jon, ...
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13
votes
Accepted
What are the holes in ice trays called?
If you consider the ice tray to be a mould (noun definition 3; or mold for AmE) for ice, then the technical term would be a cavity.
Mold Cavity
Hollow space, or cavity, in the mold, which is used ...
- 38.3k
13
votes
Accepted
What are the pronunciation and etymology of the dog's name "Tige"?
I believe "Tige" is indeed a shortening of Tiger, and would be pronounced like tide with a hard g in place of the d.
From a story in the Atlantic Monthly published in 1860, apparently by Oliver ...
- 22.7k
13
votes
Terms for name prefixes "Ms., Mr." vs "Prof., Dr."
The relevant Wikipedia article about English honorifics calls the former group "common titles" and the latter "academic and professional titles".
- 68.1k
13
votes
What is a small tent kind of shop on the side of the road called?
The phrase market cart brings up some similar images in eBay. I think I’ve also seen this kind of stand called a "barrow", too. Collins list the following for "barrow":
chiefly Brit a handcart, ...
- 7,203
12
votes
What is "a room a company provides for eating food" called?
In the UK, in government (police/fire service/parks depts) and some industry settings it can be called a 'mess room'. In educational and academic settings it can be referred to as a 'staff room'. In ...
- 259
11
votes
Accepted
Pronunciation of the name, " Leonhard Euler "
In 1905, according to the Century Dictionary, Eulerian was pronounced /juˈliːrɪən/ (rhyming with Shakespearian). So presumably, in 1905 Euler was pronounced /ˈjuːlər/. (Yooler, for those who can't ...
- 87k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the original last name of a man who adopts his legal spouse's last name?
Right now, there's several terms being used, but not really a single, commonly-agreed upon option. Perhaps that might change in the future.
Bachelor name
One option is bachelor name:
Since I wasn't ...
- 67.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible