Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

As long as are worrying Auden here, let me mention a crux that has
irritated me for some years, at the beginning of "Petition":
 Sir, no man's enemy, forgiving all,
 But will his negative inversion, be prodigal.

Watching 'Kingdom' with CC switched ON.
'Did you find anything?"
"Nothing much, just some jam-jars and some old ape knees."

Ladies and Gentlemen:
It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again.
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I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close to

Let me ask a question about usage of prefer in the following sentences
from a novel.
The argument started with dessert, a portion of the meal Callahan
prefered to drink.

We're dealing with a fanatic, trying to save mankind from the Devil
and from itself.
1. Could "Papa" be God?
2. Who are the First and the Second Sons? One of them must be Christ,

Last night a server in a restaurant in the Virginia suburbs of
Washington, D.C., didn't understand me when I kept trying to tell her
that the men's room was out of toweling until she finally asked, "Do you
mean it's out of paper towels?" Yes, that's what I meant. But I've used

Re: As I Walked Out One Evening
by W. H. Auden
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15551
1. Any ideas/connotations about the "Roarer?" Any known (historical)

Today is William Strunk, Jr.'s birthday,
so I'll keep this post short!

From an AP wire about the downed Air France plane:
"  "We are in a race against the clock in extremely difficult weather
conditions and in a zone where depths reach up to 7,000 meters (22,966
feet),"  rench Prime Minister Francois Fillon told lawmakers in

How about "lolly?" Is it "candy" or "money?"
Also, I wonder which "troll" is referred in "trollipish."
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[About "Horatian" poets being helped]

Any words for describing Candice Bergen's particular nose shape?
Not I don't like it:-)
Thanks.
Marius Hancu

I am reading an article on Obama on web. I don't know who is the
moderate Democrat in the following sentence. Mr. Jim Cooper is a Rep.
Who is "a moderate Democrat" ?
Thanks in advance

Helllo:
Is this a rare usage for "between"
with only one term around it?
I mean, "between adventure and what?"

Any suggestions about the meaning of "qualm" here? It's rare as
verb.
----
How will you answer when from their qualming spring

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One Circumlocution
by W.H. Auden
Sometimes we see astonishingly clearly