Help with English

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Saint, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    کچھ اپنے ساتھ واقف کرنے کے لئے.
     
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  3. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    "Brushing up on" means refreshing your memory about something, usually by practicing a skill.

    For example:
    "I need to brush up on my tennis before I play my boss next week."
    "I need to brush up on geography before the pub quiz on Friday."

    It usually implies that you haven't done something for a long time and you need to practice it to get back to your previous level of competence.

    Sometimes it is used in an ironic sense, where you never really had high competence in the first place.

    "Watching that Hawking documentary reminds me that I have to brush up on my knowledge of cosmology."
     
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  5. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    I think I need to brush up on my Urdu.

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  7. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    Niliambiwa na rafiki wa Kenya kwamba Kiswahili yangu ni nzuri sana. Yeye hakujua kuhusu tafsiri ya kutafsiri, nadhani. Yeye ni daktari wa kichaka. Nilimwuliza kama alikuwa mwanasayansi, lakini kulikuwa na kizuizi kidogo cha kitamaduni huko.

    What fun!

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  8. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    The origin of the phrase seems to be from the practice of brushing a top hat or a coat to remove dust and dirt and make the nap uniform and smart before putting it on. So it is a metaphor.

    So I think strictly you should brush up your Urdu or cosmology rather than brushing up "on" it. Anyway definitely not brushing up "with", as Saint was wondering. That does not make sense as a metaphor.
     
  9. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    According to various dictionaries, the "on" is apparently optional when you brush up. Usage might differ on opposite sides of the pond.
     
  10. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    You need something after the "brush up", whether that be on, my, your, on my, on your etc.
    You can't just say "I need to brush up maths" but rather "I need to brush up (on) my maths".
    There's a Cole Porter song from Kiss Me Kate called "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". It wouldn't really work in that instance as "Brush Up On Your Shakespeare".

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    But yeah, the "on" is entirely optional, but there seem some occasions when its usage feels better than leaving it out.
     
  11. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    The bar for what to expect from single-socket, consumer-facing processors has been raised once again with Intel demoing a 28-core monster at this year’s Computex show. Easily capable of outstripping its existing top-of-the-line Core i9-7980XE, the CPU is slated for release later this year.

    is slated for = means what?
    Why "slate"?
     
  12. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Yes one brushes up one's something-or-other, usually. This fits the original metaphor of the hat or coat.
     
  13. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    The meaning of "slated for" is "scheduled for".
    The idea, I think, stems from businesses where a delivery schedule, for example, would be written on a large slate board (blackboard type thing) for the workforce to see, and hence a certain delivery would be "slated" for a certain time. That sort of thing.
     
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  14. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    recourse = solution ?
     
  15. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    How/why did "shag" come to mean copuation?
     
  16. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    copulation = intercourse
     
  17. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    yes but
    intercourse has a broader meaning
    communication or dealings between individuals or groups.
    chatting, for instance
    right now, you and I are engaged in intercourse

    copulation would be sexual intercourse
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018
  18. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    i wonder if the "on" may have a social relationship to development along side technology.
    the "on" being a sense of awarenes of common folk with machines and devices where the self has become more of a subject of observation, as the mind increases its ability to quantify differing perspectives.
     
  19. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    croprotation & intersections

    if you wish to make hay while the sun shines then you better make sure your headlights are turned to green & not red
     
  20. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    I read that as cro-proton-ation and thought it was something I didn't know about. Google took me to crop rotation. Praise Google!
     
  21. geordief Valued Senior Member

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    Try "crop circles" next, coprophilia?....never mind

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  22. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    cherry pick = randomly pick?
     
  23. geordief Valued Senior Member

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    You cherry pick the responses to those of your posts and then you fail to answer them.

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    Nothing random though ,very consistent.
     

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