Discussion Groups / English Usage / September 2009

Can you use the word "broad" about people in this context:
He was tall and broad?
If not, why?

Can you be excited FOR something?
http://dadge.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/excited-for/
Adrian

How critical is really the use of the past progressive, of "being,"
in:
"you were being [coward/blasphemous]"
instead of the simple past

An email received from a customer about one of our software packages (a
reservations and events manager) stated that she was having trouble with
the calendar on the daily cooking chart.
While our software does indeed handle events and reservations, it does not

Does
"old laddie actor"
mean
"an actor formerly working parts representing the youth?"

I wonder about the exact meaning of "with" in "with and to the final
fire."
BTW, in your opinion, is the "the final fire" related to Armaggedon?
Or is the end of the life of the individual in love (i.e. he dies

What kind of music is the "tabs music?" Couldn't quite find a clear
definition.
--
[Tom, Ken Toomey's brother, and an actor, performs on the day of his

What would "forward-placed" mean?
Also, I'm intrigued by the contrast between "fine" and "vulgar" in
talking about the same very thing ("auditorium"). Or, does "fine"
refer perhaps to the architecture or the sound, and "vulgar" to the

I plan to buy a discount card from a dental insurance company.
However, I do not understand the meaning of the plan they offer. On
the website they wrote:
"Your Vital Savings on Dental discount card could pay for itself with

1) "Not all the files are necessary to run all applications, the only
exception BEING the direct writing of the substrates."
2) "Not all the files are necessary to run all applications, the only
exception IS the direct writing of the substrates."

1c seems to be fine for "dickey" but how does it look like?
Looking up
dickey images
at Yahoo

The official name of the Mormon church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints".  I cannot think of another example where a noun is
modified by two "of"-phrases in such a fashion, and I'm not entirely sure
what such a construction is meant to signify.

I came across this sentence from a forum (for learners):
"Would you please write the word bigger?"
I'm wondering if it sounds acceptable to you?
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I was watching "The Graham Norton Show" tonight.  One of the guests
was Ruth Jones ("Gavin and Stacey") and she was talking about her pet
tortoise.  She pronounced it "tort-oyse".  Kinda.  Actually, she
pronounced it as it is spelled.  Is this a Welsh thing?  Americans say

Dear native speakers - one simple question I should very much like to
know something about:
Do you say: Who knows what future brings? or Who knows what the future
brings?