Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

do you know why i always make mistakes in wrting class ?
I wonder if is there a rule of thump for me to learn the order of all
words, for a funny example,
"The catwoman jumps scratch the batman's arse with her pawns"

"New Zealand's high school students will be able to use 'text-speak' -
the mobile phone text message language beloved of teenagers - in
national exams this year, officials said Friday."
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/061109/K110902U.html

'Common vernacular'....can there be any other kind?
That was my first thought. It's redundant. I'm thinking: Dante wrote in
the vernacular; whereas Petrarch wrote in Latin.
Then someone says, sure, 'common vernacular' is correct. To

'Common vernacular'....is there any other kind?
That was my first thought. It's redundant. I'm thinking: Dante wrote in
the vernacular; whereas Petrarch wrote in Latin.
Then someone says, sure, 'common vernacular' is correct. To

An excerpt from a contract:
"Any waiver in respect of failure of compliance with the provisions of
this agreement shall be maid in writing and such waiver shall not
operate against the waiving party as a waiver of any right or remedy in

I've come across the following sentence:
"It was a busy, and noisy, household. William Turner's shop was on the
ground floor, where he could be seen busily lathering the genteel with
his soft badger brush, and the basement next door was occupied by a

Which of the following two forms would be more appropriate when
referring to something that is done without regard to one or other
particular culture?
  1) culture-neutral way

Today's NYTimes obituary doesn't mention his part in "Baghdad Cafe."
Film maudit, no?
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

I watched the new "Cracker" episode tonight and noticed the Ferris
Wheel in the background of the scenes.  Not being used to seeing
Ferris Wheels in cityscapes, I thought maybe there was some sort of
fair going on in Manchester.  No, it seems that this is some sort of

Sign up for a PayPal Business or Premier account and join a Network of
buyers. One in three online buyers in the U.S. has a PayPal account,
and over 58,000 users worldwide sign up for PayPal each day. join today
https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=PC2EPEREFB7A6

I'm looking for a good fruitcake recipe. I want to make miniature
fruitcakes to give away at Christmas. The fruitcake should be dark,
heavy, have good fruit in it, keep well, and be deliciously boozy.
It should not be a light spice cake. It should not contain day-glo green

I'm wondering if there is a malapropism from an American or British
newspaper to match this Canadian doozy:
Don Gillis, a long-standing  dean of the New Brunswick legal community
died in 2005.  The provincial newspaper (The Telegraph-Journal) ran a

A sad news story this week in the Yorkshire region, but not in the rest of
the country, concerns a little girl aged six. A very pretty young child, to
judge from her photograph. She was eating her school dinner on Thursday,
when a piece of sausage became lodged in her throat. In ...

Any idea where the word lam comes from? (as in life on the lam)

Any point in using "but I would" and not "but I did" here?
Just to point out her own stubborness, her "will" to jump?
-------
[Margaret had just jumped from a car and hurt herself]