Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

We often encounter sentences like :
"A lie is a lie is a lie."
Basically, a sentence of the form :
A <noun> is a <noun> is a <noun>.

Does the phrase below make some sence? The meaning's weird for me. I suppose
"the best combination of price and quality" can be perceived, but
"satisfaction" doesn't fit the list here. The context is a company's
profile.

I've been noodling around the net but there's too much for me to take in.
I'm interested in knowing how idiosyncratically a spectrogram can capture a
manner of speaking. Are they unique like fingerprints? If everyone on aue
had a spectrogram made of them saying 'mary merry marry' ...

I understand that the idiom "make a point of doing" is often used to
mean that the action is very deliberate as in
"She always makes a point of asking a question just as the meeting is
about to end."

Which one is correct ?
'non-availability' or 'unavailability'
Also, is there a way to guess, whether I should prefix with 'un' or
'non' to get the negativity?

Mirriam-Webster online's Word of the Day (for January 23, 2004) is
"kerfuffle."
Excerpt from a post of mine dated Oct. 10, 2003:
"Despite the fact that both of my friends would have been more

I'm reading Huckleberry Finn, and finding some of the expressions
unfamiliar.
Is there some resource somewhere that explains such things?
I'm not referring to the "slave" dialect, but rather to some of the

What is "needle-faced"?
Found this on the Web:
http://www.bombshellstudios.com/int/movies/scream3-2-06-00.shtml
"played by the needle-faced Courtney Cox"

The word "rejoin" apparently has two meanings:
 1) to come again into the company of someone/something
 2) to answer, to reply
It's that second one that's bugging me. What's re- doing in "rejoin(2)"?

Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of the participants
refer to her grandfather, now 80 years old, a "totter", and the presenter
re-phrased it as "rag-and-bone man".
I wonder how it originated in this use, and if this use is possibly related

Are "mildew" and "mold" distinct from each other (for the
non-biologist:-))?
As per unabridged.merriam-webster:
mildew

Just wondered whether the elongated "s" (like an "f") used in old English
text had any rule(s) for its use in replacing ordinary "s", or was it
inserted at whim?

Let's get the year off to a good start with the long-awaited...
Totally Official Summer Doldrums Teaser for January: Peelers all
What is the connection among Wally Whyton, John Crowley, and Bruce Sterling?

I think Spanish will become more important than English.
In 100 years, English will rest in peace.

Today I tested all of the links in the Extended Version of
Mark Israel's AUE FAQ.  I found six links that needed to be
updated.  You can see a list of the updated links at
http://www.exw6sxq.com/sparky/aue_related/whats_new.html .