Most Popular
1500 questions
15
votes
6 answers
Meaning of "to will a parking spot"
A guy is bragging about a great parking spot he has gotten in front of the building. And he says:
I am just willing these great parking spots.
What does it mean?
mosceo
- 7,266
- 35
- 97
- 147
15
votes
6 answers
Is sawmill necessarily a building?
I tried to translate the word to my native language in online translators and they say that sawmill is either something like just cutting the trees or a factory where the trees are cut. But all four online dictionaries I know (Camridge, Oxford,…
Coder4Fun250
- 357
- 2
- 8
15
votes
4 answers
interested in/to: what's the difference?
As title suggests..what's the difference?
I heard that the difference is that with "in" you are talking about something that will or is lasting in the time, while "to" is something you do just one time.
So, the sentence "I am interested in starting…
user2358943
- 273
- 1
- 2
- 5
15
votes
4 answers
What sense does "I approve of this message" make?
I am sure the correct way would be "I approve this message", however there are a lot of mentions on the Internet that say "I approve of this message". I assume people say it just for fun, unless there is a good reason to say it this way, is…
Trident D'Gao
- 1,767
- 8
- 26
- 36
15
votes
5 answers
What do you call a statement that is given as an explanation why someone has won an award?
I've searched all the dictionaries I can think of; I've read countless news items about award winners; and I've googled various strings such as "the jury's * reads" etc, but I still haven't been able to find the English word for the statement…
Helen
- 1,724
- 8
- 24
15
votes
2 answers
Do we say "a bar of staples"?
We say a bar of chocolate.
Do we call it "a bar of staples" as shown in the above picture?
Tom
- 22,959
- 54
- 244
- 427
15
votes
3 answers
What is "ice orange" and what does it have to do with horses?
What is "ice orange"? I'm pretty sure it's a typo, but can't so far figure out what it really meant:
Going up the road toward home the road was smooth and slippery for a while and the ice orange from the horses until the wood-hauling track turned…
Sergey Zolotarev
- 3,380
- 4
- 42
- 93
15
votes
3 answers
"What it does is {VERB / to VERB / VERBing} ..."?
For these expressions
What a paper shredder does is tearing the paper/tear the paper in small pieces which can be easily disposed.
What he wants to do is to become/become a ballplayer.
Which of these two forms is correct here to become/become,…
Max
- 8,584
- 31
- 72
- 134
15
votes
9 answers
What does "twice" mean in " Once bitten, twice shy"?
There is a proverb saying "Once bitten, twice shy", and I am not sure what "twice" means here.
Does it mean
Once you are bitten, you get twice as shy as before
or
Once you are bitten, you get shy the next time
Also, does "once" means the same as…
Kijitora
- 219
- 1
- 3
- 7
15
votes
5 answers
Are 'ass' and its derivations considered vulgar words?
I have seen in several movies that instead of "fuck" they use the words which are less vulgar, but I have repeatedly seen that they feel free to use "ass" or words like "jackass" or "asshole" or even the expression of "watch your ass", as what I…
user141755
15
votes
3 answers
Can we use "there is" for plural nouns?
Is the following correct:
There's a sofa, two armchairs, a TV and a big cage for our parrots.
Or should we change it to:
There's a sofa, there are two armchairs, there's a TV and a big cage
for our parrots.
Mori
- 2,191
- 12
- 34
- 55
15
votes
3 answers
Why is building called building even though it's already built?
My friend and I were having a casual conversation in the middle of the night. Eventually, we came up with the question - why is building still called building, even though it's already built?
There's more on the list - such as, painting, writing,…
Skye-AT
- 503
- 1
- 6
- 18
15
votes
5 answers
Using "the bank" or "the cinema" to talk about the activity
Native speakers use "the bank" even if they are not speaking about the specific bank, but because with certain institutions the definite article is used to talk about the activity. As in "I went to the bank yesterday." Can I use these words with…
Antonia A
- 2,031
- 1
- 13
- 31
15
votes
2 answers
What does "confused TF out of" mean?
What does "confused TF" mean?
Here is the article named "Meghan Markle Apparently Confused TF Out of an Eavesdropper by Talking a Lot on Double Date in NYC". I have read through it, but I still don't get what "confused TF" means.
brilliant
- 4,295
- 10
- 60
- 112
15
votes
7 answers
Contrary of "As its/their name indicates"
In English we sometimes use the expression "As its/their name indicates" to express the fact that the name of a concept/object/etc. bears part of its meaning, e.g.:
As their name indicates, supernovae are discovered in the sky as
“new stars”…
Franck Dernoncourt
- 5,869
- 18
- 73
- 128