Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

was born with a decade between them. Marcello was delivered at 11:59:37 pm,
the last baby born at the hospital in ...

I was wondering if "Mr. President Obama" is correct.
Should it be "Mr. President", President Obama", or "Mr. Obama"?
Is it correct to use Mr. and President along with his name?
Please, feel free to point out any errors in my post, as well.

I'm not sure how to ask this question, but you know how you watch a movie
about, say, the Ancient Eqyptians and one of the characters is wearing a
wristwatch. There's a word for that faux pas, which is, I think
"anachronism".

"That the snakes and vampires of the jungle have nothing on Mayfair"
does this mean
that the snakes don't have any advantage (in terms of bites and
poison, I guess) in comparison with the high society in Mayfair?

The use of Latin in the sciences and other learned fields basically
ceased in the 18th and 19th centuries. I have long wondered why people
accepted the use of national languages exclusively in this endeavor
where international understanding is more imperative than any other.

"I heard her unmoved"
isn't the reference of "unmoved" a bit ambiguous, to him or to his
wife?
Also, any alternatives to:

Football fans everywhere will have a chance to use the relatively new
word "cupset" today, now that Leeds have knocked Manchester United
out of the FA Cup.

What's a "tooth glass?"
Didn't get anything reasonable by googling.
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Then I put on my dressing gown and went to Sebastian's room, entering,

Hi group,
about the name of the title of Jack London's story "To Build a Fire".
Question: Is "build a fire" idiomatic? It strikes me as odd, I would
have expected "to make a fire" or "to light a fire". Is it perhaps an

I can't say I have one... yet.
I just find the whole mindset on this quite interesting and suddenly
realised how right he is that it seems we humans are often only able
to evoke "war"  to describe human co-operation in pursuit of a common

I read about Trent Park in Waugh. Now I find on the Web that:
----
Trent Park was the name of the large estate of the extremely rich
Member of Parliament Sir Philip Sassoon (1888-1939), cousin of the

It seems to be the fad these days, in medical circles and public
security circles, to use terms like "emergent care " instead of
"emergency care" and "emergent basis" instead of "emergency basis".
Maybe it makes them happy that they use an adjective like "emergent"

From a news item: "Norwegian doctors prescribe fewer antibiotics than
any other country".
Can countries prescribe antibiotics or is that the sole province of
human beings?

The Journey towards Surgical cure is not always a pleasant one.
Apprehension towards pain and post-operative morbidity and
complications are always on the minds of the patient and his near and
dear ones. It is a physical, social and financial burden on all

An article from 1934 reprinted in the Guardian may be of interest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2009/dec/29/bbc-radio-speech-pronunciation
http://tinyurl.com/ycunpfx
The subject is the effect of broadcasting on pronunciation: