Comment by Andrew Leach on Is there a word for the towel on a waiter's arm?
@Alan You appear to have created two accounts. If this is the case, then they can be merged so that the rep attached to your unregistered account is accrued to your registered account. See the help.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on "On" the campus or "In" the campus? What's the...
Welcome to ELU. You're not asking about college campuses; you're asking about the definite article the and prepositions to use with places -- and at might also be a possibility. We do have questions...
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on The ability to understand another's emotions is...
What is enlogossy? An actual corroborated definition would really help here. We don't do neologisms.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Plural of Quorum or synonym thereof
Welcome to ELU. This answer needs corroboration, I'm afraid. If quorum was a Latin noun, it would be neuter (which would indeed have an -a plural form), but it's actually the genitive plural of qui,...
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Name for different "fillings" of arrows?
"Fill" has a specific meaning, so I'm going to nominate GD.SE for this question.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on What is the difference between "in" and "at" in...
You've tagged this [syntactic-analysis]. Are you asking about differences in syntax (I don't think there are any, although I'm prepared to be wrong), or simply about differences in meaning between at...
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Is this Bible verse right?
The ESV has the heritage of the RSV and KJV behind it, so it's in the more literal camp rather than free translation for meaning (like the NEB).
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Adjective meaning "once, and eventually to be again"
Perpetual implies constantly, whereas the question describes a gap in the particular status.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Can "Competition" be used as an Adjective?
Any noun can function as an adjective, as Laurel has implied. Consider window frame; door handle; meat dish... However, they are not strictly adjectives. More detail is needed for your question.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on using past perfect in a 'by the time' clause...
Backshifting was to had been changes the timeframe completely. S4 is entirely idiomatic and correct.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on Synonym for "the end of the summer"
You've tagged this [phrase-requests] (which is right!) However, StackExchange don't make our help easy to find: please review the page about that tag which will help you flesh out the question.
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on What kind of poem seems to have no structure?
It's not blank verse (which is metrical), so I searched for "free form poetry" and found en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_verse
View ArticleComment by Andrew Leach on The word for smoke left on walls or when an oil...
You used residue in your question. I would have suggested that. Are you sure that's not what you want?
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for Use of the word "murder" in slang?
Forbidden Planet was released in 1956.OED actually has an entry for murder which is relevant:5b. U.S. slang. Something or someone excellent or marvellous.Its citations only run from 1927 to 1948 —...
View ArticleHow is justice served?
Serve is a ditransitive verb: “I served him; I served him dinner.” Dinner is served when it is delivered; and a person is served when food is placed in front of him.In which sense is justice served in...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for "May I have a mango!" is it an Imperative,...
This expression could be optative, and the use of an exclamation mark would support that interpretation. However, the sentence is not idiomatic for an optative sentence: it's idiomatically a...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for "Worked it around" or "worked around it"?
You work around a problem, just as you walk around an obstacle. The problem or the obstacle is still there, but you have got round it and on to you where you want to be.At issue is the noun which is...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for Word for the sounding of a phone notification (not...
If you're looking for entries in a menu, say to set a particular sound for "incoming call" or "incoming text", then "Ringtone" and "Notification" are already well used.For the particular sound which is...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for Is "iff" considered a real word or just an...
I would count it as jargon and I'd never use it in prose. It's a programming/maths term meaning if and only if and should be restricted to circles where it's likely to be understood (edit like XKCD...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Leach for Adverb for when a person has never questioned...
Without any information on desired connotation, I would simply go with ever:Everything you have ever believed since birthOED has1b. Limited by a following adverb, preposition, or conjunction, as in...
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