Discussion Groups / English Usage / August 2009

Help me please with those 2 questions:
1. I made an appointment with my firend.
How can we say in the end shortly:
...so we are fixed/on?

---
Rod had to make do with a hand job and a large donner from the kebab
van off the Hammersmith roundabout.
John King, The Footbal Factory, p. 3

I heard this phrase in this morning's TV program. What is the full
words of o. j.?
Second, where can I look for similar words meaning in the future?
Thanks.

"Kicking the bastard to f*ck": kicking him to hell?
"head on a stick, everyone reads the papers": could this be someone
already famous, shown in newspapers, someone marked?
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"Sound," does it mean "reliable" in London slang?
----
Dave Harris stands at the bar moaning about the six-month sentence
handed out to a mate for fracturing a copper's cheek down in

Add another one to my list that includes "pushing back", "moving
forward", "at the end of the day", "the tools we need", "point in
time", "imagine if you will",  etcetera, etcetera.

Regarding the phrase "praise and criticism," how to make it plural?
- We welcome praises and criticism.
- We welcome praises and criticisms.
Is it okay to add "s" after "criticism"?

"Lash out": to strike at the crowd? Or to "verbally abuse the crowd?"
---
The police are lashing out and trying to nick some of the younger
element [...]

What does the infinite "to reduce" mean in this sentence?
"Pyrotechnics are also used extensively in musical concerts and
television studios. Special chemicals are used to reduce smoke or
lingering sparks."

Has spelling pronunciation in public speech increased?
Steve responded:  I doubt that spelling pronunciation is increasing.
Platform speech was always overpronounced.
Until around 1900, the general belief was that the writing system was

Americans call rocket 'arugula'?

Can the word 'once' be used like 'if' for conditional clauses?
"Once it got old and got to the full-fledged onset, you would wish you
had not been born!"
Thanks