Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2007

Our local media has a fine habit of using creative units of measurement.
I'm sure yours does as well. Commonly used ones here, are the
olympicswimmingpool (Osp) which very approximately approximates a
megalitre (ML). We also have the sydharb (Sh) which is equal to the

I am nauseus! I have just been reading some newsgroups where people
use "then" instead of "than", "than" instead of "then", the ubiquitous
"in order to" where a plain "to" will suffice in 99% of cases; the
extremely nauseating "you know" that has been adopted by millions of

In a Northern town  a cannon
was fired at eleven clock every night.
One night the man who fired the gun
failed to show up.

This weekend's episode of the (only?) NPR panel game "Says You!"
features two bluffing rounds, where members of one team must define a
given word and the other team must guess which panelist on the first
team gave the correct definition.  In the first bluffing round, the

Euphoria gripped the winds as eight bands of the twin cities
       took the stage to spread awareness about the cause through their
       music.
Does anyone know what "euphoria gripped the winds" might mean?

What does everyone know about the word "rare"?
daniel mcgrath

A listener of a radio program about a month and a week ago mentioned
that "G.I." stands for "government issue."
So do you know whether this came about during Herbert Hoover's, Tafts
of Teddy Roosevelt's administration or some other elitist type of

ISTR that someone collects these. This is certainly the briefest of
these letters that I have ever received:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friend,

If we're to trust the Wikipedia entry on /Chupacabra/, last paragraph of
the "Reported Sightings" section, Texas has a State Mammologist. Though
mainly a leg man, I cannot but envy that lucky dignitary.

How to explain the difference between 'so...that' and 'such...that'?
Thanks

I found the following in k12.chat.teacher.  Is this necessary?  Good?
"Denying, say, the girls who drop out for beuaty school or kids who drop
out to work on their journeyman card the chance to work in those fields
may incent them to stay in school another year."

I'm familiar with "tasty" meaning attractive, but I heard it used the
other evening to mean "ready to fight/good with his fists/will defend
himself".  The specific use was something along the lines of "Well, I
didn't know him in those days, but I think he was a pretty tasty

Is there a newsgroup for writers?  
I am writing a short story.  I need to know what wealthy men wear when
they dress for a formal diner.  What newsgroup would be best to ask
this question in?

During the Reagan administration, "Personnel Department" was changed
to "Human Rescources (sp.?)" because they consider peoplle merely but
"rescources" and because they want to do away with the middle-class
and peasantize everyone who's not rich and because regular peole don't

What would be your reading of "picking Roddick off from the baseline"?
Any alternatives?
------
The American, not helped by a quick turnaround following his 6-4 6-2