Discussion Groups / British English / January 2004

I was wondering, my translating dictionary states that the word
"perceptibity" is an English word, although when I google for it, nothing
is found. It means almost (not exactly) the same as perceptivity, if I
should believe the dictionary. For those who are doubting me:

            Hi, my name is Barbara, I'm Italian from Cesena, a little town
near the Adriatic sea. I'd like to improve my
English, so I'm looking for native English people to exchange  some e-mails.
Is there someone interested in?

Recently I came across this sentence: I wouldn't get near one of the new
programs in this country with a ten-foot pole.
I cannot find the meaning of the phrase "a ten-foot pole." Is it a slang?
What does it account for?

I'm thinking of teaching English as a foreign language while living here in
Switzerland. I would like to know if anyone here could give me the name of
any good books that I could use. I would like a course that has teachers
notes (this is the first time I have done this) plus a ...

In a recent discussions of standards of measurement I made
the mistake of picking up on something someone else had said
and using it myself as if it was true.
It appears that I shouldn't have been so trusting.  A little

I recently wanted to make a verb related to the noun "recluse", to
mean what a recluse does when they withdraw and shut themselves away.
The natural verb seemed to be "to reclude". However, it wasn't in my
dictionary, and looking online only comes up with a definition from

I don't suppose there's any principle at work here, more likely a
collection of random oddities, but what do you think ?  The subject is
the occurrence of the adjectival function (whether word or phrase)
after the noun - which is pretty unusual in English I believe.  This

In correct English (UK) usage, is 'data' treated as a collective
singular, as per:
  Here is the data:  blah
as distinct from the US usage:

Has anyone any idea of the derivation of the word prile, used to mean
three of a kind, particularly in card games such as poker and three-card
brag?  Dictionaries consulted so far don't seem to help, and there is
nothing relevant I can find through Googling.

I have noticed a new phrase has entered my vocabulary from TV in the last 3
months. It is "Fair play!", meaning "you have just made a reasonable point",
"I agree with you", "I will do as you suggest" or "I concede the argument to
you".

I have to translate a sentence from French into English for an artist's
studio selling paintings, sculptures and others hand crafted items... (but I
am not translator and English is not my native tongue!). The sentence to
translate means that artists are producing artistic creations ...

"you must have liked it a lot".
Is that sentence correct? And what does it means precisely?
thank you
Franco

Tony Cooper | alt.usage.english,uk.culture.language.english
in <news:k2iovvs372mhiqh8g9bfshm2a71el1g72m@4ax.com>
<snip>

I propose that a newsgroup be established whose primary
purpose will be to share examples of awkward, unnatural
phrasing that has resulted from efforts to conform to
useless principles of English usage.  The name of this new

I have always understood the suffix -phobia to mean a fear or dread
of something, e.g. claustrophobia, agoraphobia.
Is there a different suffix from which words could be constructed
to denote a dislike of something without also connoting a fear of it?