English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [phrase-request]

This tag is for questions seeking a phrase that fits a meaning. If you are looking for a word, or don't care, see the "word-request" tag too.

2595 questions
49
votes
10 answers

Better way to say "No bulls--t"

I'm the person who like concise, and don't like the literature style stuffing in lots of irrelevant information to distract you from the main idea. So when I saw a book called "No bullshit Java", I know that's exactly the kind of writing style I…
xpt
  • 2,288
  • 8
  • 29
  • 39
27
votes
15 answers

Specific word to describe someone who is so good that isn't even considered in say a classification

When someone says "He's the best", or "he is definitely first". But there is someone else who is better and when some other subject considers him/her and asks "what about -name-?", is replied with something like "Yeah dude he/she is a god, it…
TrisT
  • 381
  • 3
  • 6
24
votes
9 answers

What do you call or how do you describe this in English? overcooking the food? What do you call the black stuff?

In Persian, we say that (literal translation) the food has taken the bottom :D What do you say when you want to say that the food in the pot was overcooked and something like the picture above happened to the pot? Also, is there any specific term…
Cardinal
  • 6,025
  • 11
  • 52
  • 114
20
votes
6 answers

How can one wish someone a "good night" when they sleep during the day?

Bob worked all night: he'll sleep from 9 am to 6 pm. What expression can one employ to wish him a "good night" right before he goes to sleep?
Franck Dernoncourt
  • 5,869
  • 18
  • 73
  • 128
17
votes
6 answers

What is the saying to use when someone has long worked for an accident to happen?

What is the English saying/phrase to use when someone has long worked for something bad to happen to him? For example he was so long involved in risky activities, or he was treating other people badly, so that it was to be expected, that sooner or…
Danubian Sailor
  • 5,780
  • 8
  • 32
  • 52
16
votes
4 answers

Idiom for blaming a bad act on the devil

Some people believe the Devil could inspire wrong-doings. I'm looking for a common expression where you can blame on the Devil such an action you have done. Implicit in the meaning is that we don't take full responsibility for doing it because we…
Sara
  • 3,866
  • 6
  • 35
  • 61
15
votes
6 answers

How would a native say "just looking around"

You are walking around in a shopping mall or some sort of store, even though you might buy something, you don't have anything specific in mind and you are walking around the store, to have a look. If a salesman or a saleswoman asks you if they can…
john mconore
  • 389
  • 2
  • 5
  • 10
15
votes
3 answers

Personal circumstances?

A friend of mine asked me once what he could say if he was asked about a colleague or a friend not being able to attend a meeting or a party because of, for example, confidential health or family problems, or any private matters. What he wants to…
learner
  • 5,918
  • 29
  • 81
  • 140
15
votes
6 answers

How do we say "within a kilometer radius spherically"?

How do we say "within a kilometer radius spherically"? When we say radius, we think of a circle, so how do you specify that you're thinking of a sphere when you say "within a kilometer radius"?
Sayaman
  • 13,509
  • 17
  • 95
  • 224
15
votes
4 answers

"Physician's writing" - "to scribble like a chicken with claw"

Is there any phrase for describing when someone writes extremally illegibly? In Poland it's called "physician's script", or there's an idiom "pisać jak kura pazurem", which literally means "to scribble like a chicken with claw". It's very popular…
Danubian Sailor
  • 5,780
  • 8
  • 32
  • 52
13
votes
5 answers

I was forbidden to make such requests

I was forbidden to make such requests. I feel that this is not English. But how can I express that somebody said that I am not authorized for this action?
Leos Literak
  • 755
  • 7
  • 17
13
votes
4 answers

To walk while holding/steering a bicycle

I couldn't figure out how to express this in English. In Swedish it is called "Att leda en cykel", but directly translating it to English ("to lead a bicycle") seems to mean something different. Google Translate gave me "passing a bike", which also…
Hjulle
  • 233
  • 2
  • 8
13
votes
3 answers

What do we call the process of cutting pencils down to expose more lead?

We call the following a pencil cutter. But what do we do with it? Do we cut the pencil? Cutting the pencil sounds odd to me, like it means actually we are cutting the pencil into pieces which is not something we do. So what do we do with it? EDIT-…
Mistu4u
  • 6,405
  • 13
  • 56
  • 90
13
votes
6 answers

Can we say "bed of disease"

In Persian we have a phrase, whose translation would be "in the bed of disease". It means when you are ill and resting in bed. Can we use the same in English? What are equivalent phrases?
Ahmad
  • 8,909
  • 32
  • 105
  • 200
11
votes
7 answers

What is the opposite of real-time?

In computer science there is the term real-time. Is there any word to say something is not real time? Non-real time doesn't sound good to me.
kmetin
  • 113
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
1
2 3
…
38 39