Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

An entertaining article/thread/blogpost/whatever they're called about
Godwin's Law at The Blackboard, a climate blog, includes a claim that
Americans 'only use ";" to separate two things that would otherwise
individually qualify as full sentences'. Comment #15342 (by Lucia, the

OK - here's a test.  Which are lower case 'els' and which are capital
I's?
Why can't someone  change this font?
IIIllllIIIIllll.....

In English to Persian dictionaries, the word "sausage" is translated
into both "sosis" and "kaalbaas". However, these two Persian words
refer to two different foods. I have given the links to the pictures
of "sosis" and "kaalbaas" respectively. Would you please tell me what

I often hear people on the radio end their piece with the line: 'I have
been John Smith,' or whoever.  What do they mean by that?  It implies
that on other occasions they have been (or will be) someone other than
John Smith, but I assume that isn't the intended meaning.

On television a few moments ago was a sentence that I thought
interesting enough to bring to the group.
"This will enable us to see ourselves closer and know ourselves better."
Funny, I thought. "Closer" and "better" are adjectives. But what the

I've heard that mentioned over the years, but it's not in any of my
dictionaries - does anyone know it's etymology off the top of their
heads? :-D
Nick

I just bought a cheap ipod classic (120Gig), and I am uploading lot of
audio books. Right now I am listen to a  novel Death Until Dark by
Charlaine Harris. I specially like the fact that story is on southern
town of America & read in southern accents.

'Millionth English word' declared
A US web monitoring firm has declared the millionth English word to be
Web 2.0, a term for the latest generation of web products and services.
Global Language Monitor (GLM) searches the internet for newly coined

Under the byline of Florence Waters:
"They were both bemused and appalled as they poured over newspaper
pictures of Bruno, the outrageously camp Austrian fashion journalist
and latest alter ego of the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen."

Dear (especially American) People,
I am going to carry out a questionnaire on American people. One of the most
important, and the one I am having difficulty to formulate, question is
stated below. My aim is to figure out the 'to be revealed' or 'revealed'

How do you feel about
"Any other extension would have worked too, because I tried other
files with other extensios."
Of course that is not the reason.  The second clause is the reason why

No more Tap Lights,

Is there anything wrong with the following sentence:
"Only when you are in the vicinity of the other person that you have
the right to make that demand."
Thanks

Have any of you heard anyone say they "appreciate of" something?
http://idlish.blogspot.com/2009/07/appreciate-of.html
Adrian

I'd always thought that strangle meant to kill by choking, or cutting
off airflow.  I looked up strangle on onelook and most of the
dictionaries there have "kill" in their definition.
But, I have come across a lot of headlines today along the lines of