Harddisk is sometimes used, mainly by techies, but 95% of people say hard disk. Hardisk, with one D is very rarely used. A "techie" is someone enthusiastic about technology.
Yes, although not commonly anymore. No. That's "texpeak," which is a shortening of "text speak," which is extremely bad writing, full of informal abbreviations, necessitated by the limitations on the size of a text-message that can be transmitted on a cell phone. It's like OMG for "Oh my God," LOL for "laughing out loud" or CU for "see you." People have begun using these informal abbreviations in e-mail and on message boards.
A spoof may involve lying. A spoof is one thing masquerading as another, or some kind of deception or trick. It is an elaborate joke, requiring preparation. It is only used when the consequences of the action are harmless. A trick resulting in someone being hurt or robbed would not be a spoof.
A spoof is special type of lampoon or parody: a mocking imitation of someone or something. But unlike lampoons and parodies, a spoof is usually light and good-humored. People or organizations that are spoofed almost never complain about it, and, on the contrary, are more likely to feel flattered or honored. A roast is an event in which a well-known person (usually an entertainer) is spoofed by many different people. It is a great honor to be the subject of a roast.
Mr Abbott: If the Labor Party’s “interested in being part of the solution”, he says he will deal with stuck budget measures “courteously and constructively” with the opposition and crossbench. He also says he’s very concerned about fairness. crossbench = not backbench ?
Glenn Stevens's backflip Tuesday on a declared "period of rate stability'' reflects an acknowledgement that Australia is no longer different to the rest of the world. backflip again? Means the reverse of what you say?
A backflip in this context means a reversal in attitude. In the UK we would tend to use the idiom of a U-turn rather than a backflip, to express the same thing. So if you have previously said one thing, but then reverse your position, you could be said to have done a backflip, a U-turn, a 180 (as in turning 180-degrees around) etc.
Crossbench is in reference to those members of the Parliament who do not vote regularly with either the Government or the Opposition. I.e. Neither government nor opposition can necessarily rely on their support. The backbench is for members of the government, or the opposition, who are not front-line members, who are relatively junior members of the main parties, and who do not hold government or shadow-party offices.
Maybe "backflip" also suggests an acrobatic show... something somewhat more complicated and showy than a mere U-turn?
When you execute a backflip you end up facing in the same direction. I vote for dog #3. Dog #4 is just too damn good. U-turn is a better phrase, because you finsh travelling in the opposite direction.
Indeed! "Backflip" is absolutely the WRONG word to use in this case! Yes indeed. Although we spell "traveling" with only one L. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! If we encountered the word "travelling" we would pronounce it tra-VELL-ing.
And we would pronounce traveling Tra-VEE-ling. Just to be awkward. They are proposing changing our spelling system. British children spend a couple of years longer getting to the same level in writing as children in countries with phonetic spelling. It would be a shame to lose our odd spellings, but it is undoubtedly a complete waste of school time.
English and French are (as far as I know) the only major European languages that have never undergone spelling reform. All the others (again, as far as I know) modernized their spelling to a more-or-less phonetic system in the 19th century. French words are still written the way they were written in the 11th century, even though the phonetics of the language have shifted tremendously since then--and somewhat continuously: the sound of the diphthong OI changed from "oy" to "wa" in the 19th century! Since the Normans conquered and occupied Angle Land in 1066 and made Middle French the language of government, scholarship and business, Anglo-Saxon received very little academic attention until about 300 years later when the Norman overlords "went native," intermarried with the local population, and adopted the local language. By then, of course, the overlay of French words (e.g., face, second, time, very) had caused enormous changes in its grammar and syntax (no more dative and accusative case for nouns, only present and past tense for verbs), vocabulary... and pronunciation (silent E at the end of words, no more KH sound). Scholars did a decent job of establishing a standard dialect of Middle English from the hodgepodge of local dialects. But in the era of general illiteracy, before the printing press made it practical for the average person to learn to read and write, it was difficult to establish standard spelling rules. This, of course, can be forgiven. But what cannot be forgiven is that as London became the cultural hub of the country, no one tried to standardize the rules of spelling in the London dialect. Our spelling is still not very much different from Shakespeare's--while our pronunciation is enormously different. Like French, English words are peppered with silent letters--although not nearly so many of them. It's only a slight exaggeration to suggest that learning to read English is not much easier than learning to read Chinese.
It would be easier now to have a uniform phonetic system in the UK. A problem in the past was the number of dialects. A phonetic spelling based on Standard English Pronunciation would have been just as difficult for most Victorian children. Because modern day children understand Standard English at a very early age, through the media, they are bi-dialectical. Any attempt to change spellings would meet huge opposition. How should you spell ought? Ort? Awt? People would be horrified.
modus operandi = 1. A method of operating or functioning. 2. A person's manner of working. Example of using it? Is it usually a legal term?
It is mostly used by detectives, and shortened to M.O. Many criminals have recognisable habits and methods, so any crime exhibiting those tell tale signs puts them under suspicion. So, a detective could say: "The burglary was done on a Friday night, and the burglar forced open a kitchen window. That's Harry's M.O."
