Discussion Groups / English Usage / April 2009

Dear all, could you help me, please, with two things from the Monty
Python sketch Nudge, Nudge?
1) Norm: Is your...is your wife a goer? Eh? Know what I mean? Know
what I mean? Nudge, nudge! Know what I mean? Say no more!

I work for a company that employ engineers, illustrators and technical
writers to produce EUD (End User Documentation). Today the workforce has
been whittled down a bit and those remaining are wearing several EUD
production hats - engineering mthods and technical writing. At the ...

How can all the domestic teams in the Indian Premier League
play in South Africa.
What is next? Canadian ice hockey in Norway?

As in, "Quite a conundrum, that."

As I noted last week, Chicago's rules unequivocally that percentages
are always written in numerals. Is that really true for all kinds of
writing? For example, in a novel would you have:
 In our town, 10% of the people are just downright evil.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
I came across a term "sales-reprehensive" on another forum frequented
by Taiwanese.
Someone asked in a post for a translation of some Chinese sentences,

Is employee the only singular word to specify a single member of staff? i
find no proper general English term to refer. I don't want to talk about the
particular occupation (e.g. worker, clerk, programmer, etc) all the times.
Any suggestions?

Is "on an average" less common than "on average", when used in the
same sense (i.e., not counting expressions like "on an average day")?
Is it even correct?
I saw someone use it recently, and it seemed odd to me, but here:

More mixed metaphors,
in the Ottawa Citizen, 31 March 2009,
ascribed to a named city councillor (which I hardly
believe, since he is a published poet):

What is "pink and blue"?
Say It's True
Pink And Blue
http://www.absolutelyrics.com/lyrics/view/lighthouse_family/ocean_drive/