Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2008

I've been watching this show "Gavin and Stacy" on BBC America and
fascinated by the terms used.  Nessa say "Tidy" as an American would
(or would have*) say "Neat".  Not to describe something organized and
clean, but as an expression of agreement.

In the last sentence, how would you read
"I was giving this account of myself"
would that be
"I was providing this report on his progress in life?"

In my British youth I remember that, if asked, I might have given my
weight as, say, "9 stone 12" for 138 lb. I believe that Imperial weights
are no longer official in British commerce but have people given up
pound weights for personal statistics and, if not, would the "stone"

I'm writing (or rather translating) my cover letter and have problems with
rendering the opening sentence. While in my native language the sentence
seems to read smoothly, its English version seems a bit awkward to me. The
sentence is as follows:

In what tense is this "If she was to be with you..."? What is the
function of "to be" in this sentence?

Would
"I couldn't keep the multiplication table out of my head"
mean
"I couldn't keep the reality (check) out of my head"

I'm in a bit of a fix regarding the word "credit".
The sentence goes:
X will reimburse Y for the security deposits associated with the corporate
apartments, and the amount paid will be applied back as a credit in the

Any difference between
"to kick around"
and
"to knock around"

I'd have expected the dictionaries to issue a ready-made definition of
"manlines," but I couldn't find any.
I assume they're ropes for the crew to move around a sailboat, perhaps?
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Do you feel that this sentence
"There ensued certain descriptions which I don't command the physical
chemistry to repeat"
is perfectly OK?

Do you feel that this sentence
"he had talked himself onto dry spittle"
is an idiom?
I'm talking about "onto," which sometimes shows some olden history of

Would
"seemed to be thinking over my head"
mean
"seemed to be thinking as if I were absent"

CSPAN is the television cable companies' joint effort to
provide unbiased political programming. After some of its
live programming it has extended call-ins from its audience
rather than the usual studio partisan commentary or debates

Also Oct. 18:

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep:  "she looked at me along her eyes"
I'm "?".
If you're "!", please respond, ta.