Discussion Groups / English Usage / June 2010

Is "What're" considered standard by any means?
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“What’re your plans?”
“I have none."

"denies cert"
what does it mean, denies taking up the case?
"cert" might mean "certiorari," not sure.
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Did they teach you the word potsherd in high school, or did you read
the word in museums, regarding broken things found at excavations of
ancient man?
For decades my brother and I both pronounced the word  pots herd,

Temporary notice posted in Eglinton subway station, Toronto.
Transcribed verbatim, including capitalization.
                      Washroom Closed
                Eglinton Station Washrooms

Our Lord says, "I was born
in a Light that appeared very natural, but in reality, I
say, 'It was Supernatural.' Men shout in the world, in
the time in which you live, 'Super', when they refer to

Definitions not found in the dictionary!
I found a second meaning that is not listed in the dictionaries I've
looked at.  Dictionary.com has entries from RH and ADHD3.
1. For "seal" it has lots of defs., but not the one most used all of

I was amused to see a Canadian complaining about "dumb vuvuzela's".
Either Canadian's haven't learned to play the things, or he is very,
very deaf.

I know there was a long thread here earlier this month titled " 'Siphon'
definition wrong for 99 years" but I have another question about the word
"siphon" that I don't think was addressed in that thread.
The news coverage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster seems to be filled with

OK, so in this other post I wrote "Har har" to give the impression of a
somewhat laconic, sarcastic laugh. I'm fairly certain that Germans (such
as I) will interpret this the way I intended, especially in context:

Somehow I'm not comfortable with
"they are accustomed to her occupying."
How about
"they are accustomed to be occupied by her?"

Which is correct and why?
1. If there is more than one correct answer,
2. If there are more than one correct answer,
#1 sounds right to me, but the "more than one" seems logically plural.

Doesn't this phrase have some other meaning than the literal? I seem
to recall it from some novel or movie, possibly sarcastic dialogue,
possibly a gangster/30's setting. Perhaps it's just a way of showing
contempt for the appearance of the one addressed - or does it mean

I was told that it is not 'politically correct' to use these words any
more.  How has such a ridiculous state of affairs come about?
I'm not inclined to allow political agenda to change the nature of the
English language.

Is there an abbrevation for "up to and including". I am creating a table for
an article and I cannot write this out and hence was wondering if there
would be an abbreviation for it.

In the old "Star Trek" series (the 1960s version), Captain Kirk regularly told
Mr. Sulu to "lay in a course" for such and such a planet. Is this usage
invented for the series, or is it some sort of regular English usage for this
type of context (maybe nautical jargon?). I found ...