Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

Why is it called 'double breasted' when 'double buttoned' seems
to describe better?

Recently I read an article making use of "knitpick" in place
of "nitpick" as expected. I rather like knitpick.
Nitpicking is not a pleasant task, not at all. I have found
those tiny eggs and equally tiny louse difficult to pick. My

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20989417-2703,00.html
'In an exclusive interview with The Weekend Australian in his office near
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister said: "The whole
world is laughing at America, at the stupidity of the decisions ...

I downloaded and listened to a BBC Tony Hancock radio comedy show, from
1955, called "A Trip To France". The show opens with Hancock in the
bath, playing "Cruel Sea" type games with the soap and the scrubbing
brush. He is sea-struck. The other members of the household want to use

In Wikipedia, Jeff Foxworthy was given as an example of a comedian
speaking with an genuine Southern accent (he is from Georgia). After
ordering his CD on-line, I received "you might be a redneck if ..."
within less than 24 hours (standard delivery). Yes, thinks are

Y A O H Ú S H U A
 FACTS SHOCKING BUT TRUE!
 1. The real, original and genuine Name of our Creator in the
 original Hebrew Holy Scriptures is 'YAO-HOO' and that of the

Having come across this word ("thot") twice in two days, I checked the
usenet archive and found that there hasn't been much discussion of it in
aue, though it has been mentioned that it doesn't make much sense here in
Rightpondia. For me it'd have to be "thort".

Chundering through Rooland_Slang in Oz on CNN.com
You can check it out at
http://tinyurl.com/yl9ch8
or

Since this was the ADS' WOTY runner-up, it maybe should have its own
thread; see
http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/climate_canary_1/
Catchword: climate canary

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself. My name's Chris and I'm an
Englishman living in Sardinia.
Anyway, what I wanted to ask is quite simple. What do you think is the most
common pronunciation of the suffix -shire, as in Shropshire? My version in

The OED, via The Independent, invites us to come up with citations for
troublesome words and phrases.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2121675.ece
Will.

I guess if you're Asian you have the right to call your product
something like this, but woe unto any Westerner who picks such a brand
name:
 http://members.cox.net/dadoctah/images/snack.jpg

"Today the concept of evolution is a pillar of the biological sciences
and infuses almost all of modern culture. But it continues to be
challenged by some conservative religious believers, who insist that

There is an alternative to tedious drives listening to commercially
contaminated programmes on your car stereo.
Download your favorite English classic[1], read by passionate readers,
from

I teach my students curses that appear in Sheakespearean English. As an
introduction to Macbeth this approach seems to me very promising to
raise the students`s interest.
I did not find the modern English meaning of