Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

east of north
Is this the same as "north east"?
I think we rarely see such a way of expression as EAST OF NORTH in
english writings

On Sep 21, 9:36 am, "chance" <cinci...@yahoo.co.kr> wrote:

"All of it's"
and
"Some of it's"
are dialect, isn't it?

I am familiar with "shiftless", but I'd never come across "shiftful"
before. Do you think it is a joke word here?
'All of the nations made some shift to live, save only the English, who
it seems are not so shiftful as others, and... have no great kindness

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From todyay's Guardian report of what's going on at Mitchell & Butler:
"Meanwhile, back-channel peace talks are understood to have begun last
week and continued over the weekend."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/10/mitchells-butlers-joe-lewis-talks

Hello, I need native speakers of English to help me judge whether the
following are acceptable English sentences. Thanks.
(1) John will read Chapter 3 or Mary will read Chapter 3.
(2) John will read Chapter 3 or Mary will.

Arlene Foster, the woman standing in for Peter Robinson, First Minister
of Northern Ireland, had a sentence in her statement that might be of
interest here:
"Me standing here is very much for a temporary period of time but I do

I tried e-mailing this to Peter Moylan using his address from the
message I was reading, but it came back saying the address was
"unrouteable".
If anyone else decides to read the rest of this, bear in mind that you

Any BrE slang words replacing "distractions" as a generic indication
of loose life? Something that would cover all of the possible
"amusements" (drinking, sex, etc).
---

"body"
is this in the meaning of "person," "someone?"
-----
[Anthony Blanche meets Ryder after several years, but he's followed

"I had a funny feelin that my door was going to come off this mornin," he
wrote in one smug post guaranteed to torque law enforcement officials
everywhere.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/06/AR2010010604564.html

Does the word "Bede" (as in Venerable Bede) bear any etymological
connection to the word "bead"?

Quoting a news headline:
Wave of retirements speaks to uncertainty about 2010 elections.
The "speaks to" is interesting and has been annoying me for the
several years since it crawled into the popular lexicon.  Does anyone

My wife and I have been invited to a Scottish wedding in England (near the
border of Scotland, near Gretna Green). We have received a letter from the
father of the bride to be. We have decided to accept this invitation, but
how do we reply in a way that is considered 'correct' ...