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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  3. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    superfluous = superficial ?
     
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  5. Daecon Kiwi fruit Valued Senior Member

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    I believe superfluous means unnecessary, or not important to requirements.

    "Beauty is only skin deep" = beauty is superficial.
     
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  7. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The definitions already given are accurate. I would define it as "not taking [something that the other person thinks is important] seriously."
    The basic meaning of "superfluous" is "more [of something] than is necessary." This is not quite the same as "unnecessary."
     
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  8. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    enquiry or inquiry ?
     
  9. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    In the US you would almost exclusively use "inquiry", I believe.
    In the UK both are used, although "inquiry" tends to be in reference to more formal investigations, e.g. Police inquiry.
    But when you're just talking casually about asking for information, you'd use (in the UK) "enquiry".
    E.g. I'll make an enquiry about the best route to take.
     
  10. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Yes. The "E" spelling is strictly British, which means that it is probably also used in India, South Africa and the Antipodes.

    Linguists include Canadian speech in "American English" and they spell most words our way.
     
  11. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    who breathing never wavered = never hesitated ?
     
  12. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    That's contextual. In that "His breathing didn't change while he sent the plane down", 'never wavering' would be indicative of his mental state. Apparently calm.

    Though there's much more to be discussed about that...

    Edit: Man, that looks sort of muddy. I hope it doesn't confuse more than it helps.
     
  13. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    Not a suicide? What can it be?
     
  14. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    rose-tinted lenses = pre-conception ?
     
  15. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    without any caveats = caveats must be plural? It means what?
     
  16. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    pore over = ?
    pore means hole.
     
  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    It means that he was breathing at a steady pace, implying that he was calm, rather than angry or agitated.
    The meaning of "suicide" is to kill oneself. If you also kill a friend or a member of your family who wants to die and agrees to be killed, this is often also referred to as "suicide," but it is more correct to use the legal term "murder-suicide."

    But if you kill 150 people who do not wish to die and don't even know it's going to happen, this is mass murder. The fact that you also killed yourself is almost irrelevant compared to the number of victims.

    An exception is a type of terrorist attack, in which the terrorist walks or runs into a group of people he regards as his enemies, and sets off a bomb that kills the group in addition to himself. We call this a suicide attack. It is quite possible that the recent plane crash was a suicide attack by the co-pilot. So far there is no evidence that he was a member of a terrorist organization, but he may have developed a mental illness that provoked this behavior.
    Think about it: if you wear rose-tinted glasses, it will make the whole world seem to be pink, which is a pleasant effect. So, if you say that a person sees the world through rose-tinted glasses, it means that he has a cheerful attitude and thinks that everything is good.
    Caveat is a Latin word meaning "warning" or "need to exercise caution." A legal term that is often invoked is caveat emptor, which means "the buyer beware"--in other words he had better inspect the thing he is buying very carefully because the seller offers no guarantee that it is in good condition.

    So a "caveat" has come to mean a warning or an admonition.
    The verb "to pore" means to examine something carefully, to read something with great attention, or to spend a lot of time and energy thinking about something. It has no relation to the noun "pore" which usually refers to the tiny openings in your skin for perspiration, or in a leaf for respiration. The word "porous" is derived from it.

    The two words are not related; their similarity is a coincidence. The first is of Latin origin, the second Greek.
     
  18. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    commensurate
    adj: corresponding in size or degree; proportionate:
    a salary commensurate with my performance.

    no need "be" ?
    a salary which is commensurate with my performance.
     
  19. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The word "commensurate" is an adjective. Many adjectives can serve as connectors, when used with a preposition. For example:

    This table is not level with the floor.
    My cat seems to be afraid of the neighbor's dog.
    I am nervous about the possibility that this contract will be canceled.
    My sister is hungry for some cake and ice cream.
     
  20. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    a huge golden parachute = means what ?
     
  21. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    It's obviously a metaphor, because if a parachute were actually made of gold, it wouldn't float in the air! The term is used in the corporate world.

    To be fired from a high-paying job is compared to falling out of an airplane. If you don't have a parachute, you'll die. If you're fired from a good job, you probably won't die, but your career may be over and you may spend the next five or ten years trying to find another job that pays only half as well as the last one. You may have to pull your children out of their expensive university and send them to a public school, sell your mansion and move into a smaller house, trade your Maserati for a Cadillac, etc.

    So a "golden parachute" is a large amount of money (which may actually be stock options instead of actual cash) that you can use to maintain your lifestyle until you find a good job.
     
  22. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    "on the back burner" in this context means something like the issue is not one at the front of people's minds - it's a background issue, like a pot cooking at the back of a stove.

    "gaga" means something like "crazy". To be "gaga over" something means to be intensely preoccupied with it. So, you could say something like "people are gaga over the new iPhone".
     
  23. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    In the USA, "gaga" generally refers to someone who is so enthusiastic (about a person, idea, product, song, etc.) that he acts too enthusiastic and may actually do something foolish. "My brother went gaga over that gorgeous blonde girl from Sweden. He follows her around like an orphan duckling."

    But the British section in Dictionary.com says that in your country, its primary meaning is "senile." #2 is "doting," and #3 is "slightly crazy."

    It's originally a French word, but they just made it up. It has no etymology.
     

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