Moderator:JackFrost
Aisha wrote:What does it means of that word? to say "take one's time"?
kuЫК wrote:A question about articles from a person whose native languge doesn't have them.
There's a the? frase Are you going to choose the wine? What is the logic behind the definite article here?
As I understand it, the a? definite article refers to a common context. If I ask a person which wine they are going to choose, then I haven't known which wine they are going to choose, there's no specific wine in our common context, therefore it should be a wine. But since there's the wine in the correct sentence, there should have been a mistake in my reasoning. And I can't see what that mistake is.
kuЫК wrote:As I understand it, the a? definite article refers to a common context. If I ask a person which wine they are going to choose, then I haven't known which wine they are going to choose, there's no specific wine in our common context, therefore it should be a wine. But since there's the wine in the correct sentence, there should have been a mistake in my reasoning. And I can't see what that mistake is.
linguoboy wrote:This may be more of an Indian English question than a generic English question per se, but the other night I was passing the local jamatkhana and overheard part of an argument. A woman yelled at an older man, "I respect you as an elder but don't put the finger!" I don't know any idiomatic interpretation for put the finger in English, so the sentence makes no sense to me. Can anyone help?
johnklepac wrote:I've never heard "dead presidents" used in an actual conversation, although it's certainly a creative phrase and I wouldn't mind if it caught on. You sometimes hear "benjamins" for $100 bills, and (jovially) "Hamiltons" for $10s in a certain Lonely Island song.
There are more rare slang terms than just what Dormouse mentioned (although those are used too), though, like:
green
greenbacks
paper
stacks
bling-bling
bread
cheddar
moolah
linguoboy wrote:This may be more of an Indian English question than a generic English question per se, but the other night I was passing the local jamatkhana and overheard part of an argument. A woman yelled at an older man, "I respect you as an elder but don't put the finger!" I don't know any idiomatic interpretation for put the finger in English, so the sentence makes no sense to me. Can anyone help?
razlem wrote:There's a word I'm looking for, but I can't seem to find or think of. It means roughly 'obligate' in the context of:
"To claim this [] a litany of documentation"
The sense isn't as stark as "requires", and "obligates" doesn't sound right. Any thoughts?
vijayjohn wrote:Suggests?
linguoboy wrote:kuЫК wrote:As I understand it, the a? definite article refers to a common context. If I ask a person which wine they are going to choose, then I haven't known which wine they are going to choose, there's no specific wine in our common context, therefore it should be a wine. But since there's the wine in the correct sentence, there should have been a mistake in my reasoning. And I can't see what that mistake is.
"Definite" doesn't mean the same thing as "specific" anyway. After all, English has a (formal) usage where a definite article is used generically, e.g. "The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates[.]"
Cesare M. wrote:Just to add, around here at least, "definite" implies something that is guaranteed. A "definite" answer - An answer that you know is guaranteed without any doubt. "Specific" refers to a particular thing. A "specific" answer - Not just any kind of answer.
linguoboy wrote:That's not really relevant to the definition of these terms within a linguistic context.
Dormouse559 wrote:It's a Yosemite Sam accent.
linguoboy wrote:When I am World Despot and can ban any words and phrases I want, one of them will be "Midwestern accent". People use as if it means something, but it doesn't. Several dialect zones include the Midwest, but they all extend outside of it as well. (My "Midwestern accent" includes the pin-pen merger and "y'all".)
In any case, this is not any variety of "Midwestern" accent; it's Southern. Some giveaways:
1. [ɪ] in ten. (The pin-pen merger, which extends into Southern Midland.)
2. [e] in bench (part of the Southern Shift).
3. Fronting of /ow/ (e.g. opening).
4. Lowering of the first element in /ey/ (e.g. eight)
5. Slight draw in back.
6. No cot-caught merger.
Deletion of /w/ in quarter is found in the informal English of several American varieties, but using it unabashedly in this sort of context strikes me as a pretty Southern trait. Really, only features (2) and (5) in the list above are exclusively Southern. (I have (1), (4), (6) and occasionally (3) in my own non-Southern speech).
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