Discussion Groups / British English / May 2008

I have a doubt about the particular meaning of the word "limbless".
Is anyone able to tell me if it could refer to a woman who have very
little breasts?
I heard someone saying "she's still limbless as ever" while talking

I stumbled upon "on the spur of the moment" in wiktionary.com  and
found that the meaning given is "on very short notice". The example
cited reinforces the meaning -"They kept their bags packed so they can
leave on the spur of the moment".

please tell me what's the difference between usage of these two verbs
-- "to bring" and "to fetch". thanks.
AN

There is a word which means to gain/achieve/benefit but through
bad/unwanted circumstances.  Anyone have any idea what it is?

I'd like to impress my english teacher at school by presenting my
essay work with an astonishing array of vocabulary. Is there any one
best way I should go about doing this, so that I can learn a lot of
words in a short time and have them come to mind automatically at my

What's the difference between the meaning of these two words?

Does anyone know the origin of this expression? Is it biblical or classical?
I have a notion that the Corinthian/Commoners dichotomy is analogous to
Gentlemen/Players, the Corinthians being successors to Dandies and similar
high- (and loose-) living young gentlemen of means. Does ...

Hi again, sorry but you guys on this newsgroup have been so helpful so
far to help me find my words that I thought I might as well keep
asking lots more stuff if you don't mind. What's that word that means
when something can turn into anything else or take the form and

Hi all, was wondering if anybody could come out with some terms as an
alternative for 'in great number', for example if you wanted to say
'the diseases spread in great number' or 'the birds came out in the
flocks' or 'idiots prevail in the masses' what would be an alternative

What does it mean when people say 'I'll give you the benefit of the
doubt'? I've heard it so many times and have a slight hint or gist of
appreciation of what it might mean from the context but could never
fully understand it in simple words. Please explain, thanks!

There's another word that means the similar thing as
'personification', i.e. giving a animal or thing human traits. I think
it ends with 'morphosis'. Could anyone tell me what that word is? It's
on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite bring it out of my head.