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13
votes
4 answers
Meaning of "Chucking an ice cube into the path of a forest fire"?
"Please don't get angry," I throw out as a preemptive sally, even though it feels a bit like chucking an ice cube into the path of a forest fire.
What does it mean here?
Ardis Ell
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13
votes
1 answer
A equal B or A is equal to B?
Equal is an Adj. However, I frequently hear people say or write A equal B as a complete sentence, instead of A is equal to B. For instance,
As a result, A equal B.
Panha
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13
votes
2 answers
Undiscovered meaning of the verb "to fold to"
I have found the following passage on a neighbour site of the SE network (https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/56997/22315):
Your boss might try to haggle. Never fold to that.
As I might suggest, the verb "to fold to" in the context means:
do…
Denis Kulagin
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13
votes
4 answers
What is the meaning of "less than delighted"?
This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel group intervention intended to increase
the SWB of early adolescents who are less than delighted with their lives.
Is it a typo in the text putting than before delighted or is a special combination?
Mehdi Haghgoo
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13
votes
4 answers
"Tick" vs. "check" the box
I came across the following example:
Tick the box if you would like more details.
In the sentence, "tick the box" means mark the specific checkbox. If we have the following checkboxes
ticking the first checkbox means selecting it.
But what is…
Dmitrii Bundin
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13
votes
1 answer
I did a gig in a fertility clinic. I got a standing ovulation
Can you explain what this joke means please?
“I did a gig in a fertility clinic. I got a standing ovulation.”
Tim Vine: Timtiminee Timtiminee Tim Tim to You
(Pleasance Courtyard, One)
kyle
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13
votes
4 answers
"Is it proved that ...?" vs. "Has it been proven that ...?"
Searching The New York Times, I found 22,100 results for "is it proved" and, therefore, I argue that that phrase is likely correct English.
But on History Stack Exchange a user edited the following sentence, written by me, "Is it proved that the…
user114
13
votes
2 answers
Why "Section, Chapter, Table, Figure" are capitalized in articles
The goal of this section is to analyse the features introduced in Section 3 for boilerplate detection.
In books and papers, we see "Figure 1", "Chapter 2", "Section 1", "Table 2". Why are they capitalized?
From my searching, this is recommended…
Ahmad
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13
votes
3 answers
Can I rephrase the sentence "Can you explain this word to me?" into "Can you explain me this word."
Can you explain this word to me?
Can I rephrase it as
Can you explain me this word?
user48070
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13
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3 answers
"Product list" vs "Products list"
I have a page with list of products. What is the correct name for this page?
Product list
or
Products list
And What's difference?
rnofenko
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votes
4 answers
Want to understand "the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter" further
In a statement, Kensington Palace said: “Her royal highness the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am. The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz.
This usage is quite strange to me though it's all right in the context of baby's birth.…
Maulik V
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13
votes
1 answer
What is the meaning of the phrase "Shed some light"?
I heard this phrase in the movie "the fugitive" when the news reporter was talking about the investigations around the murder of the fugitive wife
Marina Medhat
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13
votes
4 answers
English equivalent of French "quiproquo"
In English, quid pro quo refers to a barter-style exchange. I'll do this for you and you'll do something for me. There is this quote from the movie The Silence of the Lambs(1991) where Dr Lecter says:
[...] If I help you, Clarice, it will be…
user16335
13
votes
3 answers
Is "Call me when you are available to talk" correct?
Call me when you are available to talk
Is that correct? Can I use it that way?
Sabrina
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votes
7 answers
Is "horrorest" a correct English word?
I know that "horror" is also an adjective as in I saw a horror movie yesterday. But I don't know if its comparative and superlative forms are "horrorer" and "horrorest" respectively. I searched on Google and found that these forms are used by…
Gurpreet
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