Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

Hey AUE'ers!  What's this thing that's been talked about re: MJ, an
"arraignment"?  Will that be the trial?  Does anyone know what date MJ's
"arraingment" thing is?  And, if so, *please* explain the word to me.  What
will happen on the date and what will the media show?  How long ...

John Humprys doing his best to be inclusive on Radio 4's Today programme
this morning:
'If a doctor decides that he is fed up with the NHS [slight pause] or a
female doctor decides that they are fed up with the NHS ...'

Well, for just this day (and hopefully tomorrow) we should pronounce
"tumble" as "tumblay".
Yes, it would be quite cricket to do so.
In patriotic glee,

I'm trying to understand if there's a difference in the below constructions:
  (some statement). Therefore it seems...
  (some statement). Thus it seems...
  (some statement). Hence it seems...

How to read "my boss' kid"?  Do you read as 'my boss kid' or 'my
bosses kid'?

When is it proper to use sang as opposed to sung? I have a real
problem in this area.
Examples, please.
Thanks,

The following nouns which mean objects with unfixed shape and materials are
considered uncountable.
So they cannot have the plural forms with these meanings.
But could these nouns be used as countable nouns as shown in the following

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1592237
"A Search for Haggis in Southern California"
The Scottish national dish known as haggis is an unappetizing combination
of oatmeal and offal cooked in a sheep's stomach. Scottish expatriates in

I've been semi-lurking here for a while and I thought I'd come in with a bit
of flame-bait...
Does 'good' syntax really matter? I've seen discussion here about Truss, for
example, which got rather pedantic about an 'only' that was placed somewhere

I was listening to a technical audiocast that I downloaded off the Web
today. Essentially, the presenter was going through a Microsoft
Powerpoint slideshow during the audiocast. For every bullet in the
presentation, the presenter started explaining with a sentence that

I wonder, what are the reasons for not thinking
that "I will run" is a future tense
construction. Leaving aside the possibility that
"will" is not purely temporal in meaning (i.e.,

Hi all. the other day I was told that the sentence:
"I am deeply stirred by a Chinese saying '×ÓÓûÑø¶øÇײ»ÔÚ' which expresses the
agony of a bereaved child who cannot practice filial piety when he/she finally
succeeds in career after striving."

Am I alone or wrong in detecting a certain lack of tense syncing in
the following? The emphasis is on the CAPITALIZED items.
--------
Customers would stroll by and there WOULD be Evie and me sprawled on a

strikes again.

I'd like to know the meaning of the sentence:"my age is tweedle and
twee". It's taken from a song called "I was born" by Billy Bragg.
Thanks in advance.
Javier