Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2008

Apologies if this has been posted before.  I'm very much in and out
these days and just can't keep up with everything.
A couple of professors at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati have
posted a survey seeking data on the use of Yiddish words and phrases

Thanks for the previous erudition.
I now hear that 'like' in a sentence such as " It looks like it is going to
snow" is incorrect.
Can soneone please explain why.

Is 'difference' necesserily between 'two' things?

Do you see a differencce between offend and insult.
Even though the dictionaries I've looked in doesn't seem to support
one, or the one I see, I still see it.  
I'm looking for any distinctions you feel, and I'll ask about mine in

I just got a rejecting letter in my job hunting, as follows:
"Thank you for your interest at the XXXXX position at XX. We haven't
filled the position yet. However, we have decided to take a different
direction and cannot extend an offer at this moment. "

Do you prefer
"Handing a glass to someone"
or
"Handing out a glass to someone"

in the fiction The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
http://xahlee.org/p/masque_red_death.html , there's this passage:
He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the
seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fête; and its was his own

I was just watching some Saturday evening TV (always a bad idea), and
was reminded of one of my pet peeves.
When did "Let's have a big hand for..." become "Give it up for..." And
WHY?

How to use these two words?  Are they interchangeable?
What's your relation/relationship with Tom?
We're brothers.
How's your relation/relationship with your brother Tom?

banning transfat "to help the public make healthier choices".  
Obviously when they ban a transfat, they're preventing the public from
choosing it.  They are ending choice, not helping it.
And this is from NPR news!!

Are you comfortable with both of these sentences?
1) It's a long time since they HAVE LIVED in London.
2) It's a long time since they LIVED in London.
Also, for each, does it say anything about the person currenly living

Are these sentences all fine?
My favorite fruits are orange and banana.
My favorite fruit are orange and banana.
Oranges and bananas are the fruit I like best.

I'm looking for the name of a music instrument. It might be a sort of
zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but it's different from
a "The Third Man" type of zither: the strings are not plucked, but
strummed, and there's a keyboard. The right hand is playing on the

Ok, you are elderly, you are naked, you are enjoying
a bit of sun tanning on a peaceful remote beach, and
you are annoyed by ankle biting barking chihuahua dogs
which came ashore in a raft.

My favorite fruits are orange and banana.
My favorite fruit are orange and banana.
Oranges and bananas are the fruit I like best.
Oranges and bananas are the fruits I like best.