Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Have you all got spam filters? I haven't, and I'm wondering whether to
abandon ship and head over to aeu...
Adrian

BBC NEWS
Roll over Roget
By Peter Jackson
When did a lavatory become a loo? And why were Victorian trousers

During the Michael Jackson Memorial event Congresswoman Sheila Jackson
Lee said:
   Some of you come from all faiths. And we respect that here in
   America.

Your preferences please.
1. I won't be coming to the club as of the 8th of July.
2. I won't be coming to the club from the 8th of July.
3. I won't be coming to the club from the 8th of July on.

The way I was brought up, "to goof" was to make an error, like Goofy,
Mickey Mouse's dog. I've been told that it now means a much more
serious error, as in to sexually corrupt a minor. Is this now the
standard meaning? Or is it localized in jail? I was just constructing

From:
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5685ER20090710
The headline is:  "UK records first H1N1 death in healthy patient"

"The committee consists of THE students' parents."
Does this somehow imply that ALL the students' parents are in the
committee?
--

Ladies and Gentlemen:
----------------
An argument accordingly rose up, that is, where we should start our
career, a big city or small town.

I was just checking a collection of spam emails to ensure that no
genuine message had been falsely marked as spam.
I read this in one email:
   One of the pluses of our drugstore is that we deliver the pills

My wife is reading Picasso / A Biography by Patrick O'Brien and
asked if this sentence sounds right:
This was also the time when Picasso produced a sudden little output
of religious pictures, including the charming "Rest on the Flight to

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I just sent an email in which I said "Do I ever know *that* feeling!"
The sense is obviously an exclamation, but does the word order make it a
question?

"in and of itself" when most everyone else says "in itself"
"The reason is is that..." when most everyone else says "the reason is
that..."
"take it off of the table" when most everyone else says "take it off

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/06/2618426.htm?section=justin
   Coffee 'could reverse Alzheimer's effects'
   US researchers suggest that an increased caffeine intake cannot only
prevent Alzheimer's disease, but also reverse its effects, in mice at