Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2008

consultant --> conslutant
safety issues in the [manufacturing] plants --> safety issues in the pants
flipping our books around --> flipping our boobs around
a swap of parking spaces --> a swamp of parking spaces

Any difference in the "depart" suggested by:
--------
go off
3 a : to go forth or away : DEPART <had to sit down and wait for her

Here is my favourite redundant ad:
Raid Bug Repellant.   “Raid kills bugs dead”
Any competitors?

thou far superior to those immense masses of tautological crap,
deleuze is too timid, too symbolic, too much of a pansy boy. his logic
of sense whines bout classic logic, serious, tides bout nostalghia for
the serious, irony, and celebrates humour, with alice. but he's not

What would your reading of "he swung off" be?
Does it mean "he turned on the spot (his horse) and left?"
-----
[They meet a Black Rider]

I came across (or was it down?) the following "definition": "slang for
coffee"  and the answer was "Java".
I there anything slangy about "Java" that escapes me?

I recently received a spam e-mail with the subject line:
  "The key to sexual nirvana".
A dictionary says
   Nirvana:  ... characterized by the extinction of desire ...

A professional translator told me that the following sentence is a
"phrase":
"The captain said that we might play a match"
Well, I do not agree with her. Am I correct?

AmE 'breading' = BrE 'stuffing'?
DC
--

I wondered if anyone could verify if the "plumb job" in the article below
has any plausible meaning in the context, or it it just a typo and they
meant to write "plush" or "plum"?
"Both the government and the opposition have been trying desperately to woo

Yesterday I was thinking about the phrases, "given my 'druthers,"
and, "if I had my 'druthers," both of which are natural to my ear
(and not too terribly unlikely to issue from my lips).
I got to wondering whether 'druthers' is specific to a few

With Vista being the flop it is, I suspect Microsoft is anxious to
replace it ASAP. Did I read somewhere that the next version is
code-named Windows 7 or is that the actual, chosen name?

If the question isn't a real quote (from some author) but is an
implied question from a would-be reader, do you really need quotes?
Here:
Our book answers the questions, "What college is right for you?", "Do

He has been ill until recently. (This sentense means "He is still ill
now." Am I right?)
He was ill until recently. (This sentense means "He is now recovered."
Am I right?)

I am frequently amused by these gods of English language
around here, and their clear ignorance of artful usage
of our English language.
Any idiot can make use of a dictionary. However, only