Discussion Groups / English Usage / June 2009

Looking at swimsuits in a catalogue today, I saw one tankini top
described as having a "meet-and-greet" length... and as I type this I
realize that although I came here to ponder how long a "meet-and-greet"
tankini top would be, many people probably stopped at "tankini."

Please supply examples of proper usage.  Or are they safely
interchangeable?
As in " My son is contin.......ly asking me for money".  i.e. he asks
once a month for a handout.

In this morning's NY Times, I see a lead beginning with:

As I learned to use the word scuttlebutt, I would be hard put to think

Inspector Barnaby (Midsummer Murders) picks up a spent rifle cartridge
Subtitling reads: It is a 22-250
Barnaby says: It is a double two two fifty.
Is this the standard pronunciation in England?

I have a question about the word "results" in this (long) sentence:
[quote]
Although earthquakes can cause death and destruction through such
secondary effects as landslides, tsunamis, fires, and fault rupture, the

From the Wikipedia article on "unsecured creditor" -
" In most legal systems, secured creditors also have the option of
releasing their security and _proving_ in the liquidation, although in
practice they would rarely do so."

OK.  It's nonetheless interesting that he still uses the idea, given
that he is the archetypical enunciator of the principle that it
doesn't work.  
... Apparently architypal is a word too.  Which is better here?

<
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<             BULLETIN
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Which is best for the following blank?
___________ your effort and talent, we wonder if you can work full time
for us.
A. Regarding

Got a flyer from one of our local Estate Agencies advising me they were
about to survey a neighbour's house and were interested in surveying others
in the vicinity since they had "many perspective clients".
Incidentally, why do Estate Agents do this? Do they imagine there are ...

Reported in alt.fan.cecil-adams as having been seen in a lease agreement:

Excuse me
Would you stop for a moment
O...man...Haven't you thought-one day- about yourself
Who has made it

Is there a special word for a sleeveless undershirt? Or all of them
are named "undershirt" with the respective description?

This headline puzzled me for a moment or two:
Met officers in 'waterboarding' torture claim to be arrested and
interviewed.

"Molesting a cadaver" - this striking alternative to "flogging a dead
horse" caught my eye and scores only two Google hits.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=406961&c=2