Discussion Groups / English Usage / September 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen:
In the thread of "Eligible and illegible," Mile Lyle wrote "Well done
for not corpsing.," and Philip Eden replied that "[My coworker] knew
exactly how to make me corpse."

Dear English teachers:
Which would be a correct usage, (a) or (b)?
(a) I am fine with you doing your work later ...
(b) I am fine with your doing your work later ...

The following two sentences were extracted from Steven Pinker's
article, and I don't understand the main idea. Please explain them
plainly for me. Thanks for kindness.
1. A sex difference in tolerence for sexual language may seem like a

This is partly quoted by Burgess. In the last sentence, does "her
pulpits" refer to Oxford? I think cities are often seen as feminine,
just checking.
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Hello. I was wondering the other day about when "do" came in to use in
the following example: "Do you like apples?". I imagine that long ago,
the following would have been used: "Like you apples?". This way of
asking questions seems to remain in Dutch and in German. Could anyone

BBC headline: "Economy shrinks less than thought".
I wonder how the decline in thought was measured...

From:
IT consultant, Charlie Reeves, added: "Vista was 'less good' in the same
way being tortured for three months in Abu Ghraib is 'less good' than a
Belgian three-way with Scarlett Johansson and Lindsay Lohan."

Just heard on the radio: "the number of spiders and daddy-long-legs has
soared".
I suppose the plural of "daddy-long-legs" must be "daddy-long-legs", but it
still sounded a bit odd.  Thoughts?

"MF"? Is this a pill, a drug?
They guy talking to Toomey might know he's gay (he may be gay
himself) , he seems to evoke some sexual images.
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As saith Wikip: "A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of
gold, silver, gemstones, money, jewellery, or any valuable collection
found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where
the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true ...

I've found "conniption fit" only works in AmE slang. What would be the
pondial slang equivalent?
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Thanks.

When I read news reports or official documents from the end of the
19th Century I often see a strange way of writing street names.
Here is an example, taken from http://www.casebook.org/official_documents/inquests/inquest_pinchin.html
"Police-constable William Pennett, 239 H, ...

Hello, good evening.
Before I started working at the company, I had never seen "below"
modifying nouns. The "Below" I know was used like these:
1) There is a pit below the surface.

This use of "evacuate" seems quite rare, doesn't it?
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[Toomey goes through what seems to be a heart attack.]
I was aware of my heart as a sudden vacuum. Sensation evacuated my

In a book I'm reading, one army "routed" another army (meaning
vanquished, not directed along a path).  I vaguely recall seeing
occassional use of the word in this sense for as long as I can
remember, but I haven't been able to such a definition for the word: