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Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-01, 21:59
by Dormouse559
I'd also say it lacks the political implications you said "popolino" has. The riffraff are simply undesirables, regardless of their political convictions.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-09, 12:30
by IpseDixit
I'm having trouble understanding this sentence from The Sleeper Awakes by H.G Wells:

"I am wifeless - childless - who is it speaks of the childless as the dead twigs on the tree of life?"

Shouldn't there be a relative pronoun there? I.e: who is it that speaks of...

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-09, 16:20
by vijayjohn
Normally, yes. I think omitting the relative pronoun here is an archaic construction (at least, I don't remember encountering it in 21st-century English or anything). There seem to be a lot of quotes including the words "who is it speaks" from around the turn of the century (including, of course, H. G. Wells).

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-09, 17:23
by IpseDixit
Thanks :)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-12, 22:09
by vijayjohn
Np :) (Pretty late, I know, but... :lol:).

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 16:49
by IpseDixit
I've been reading a few books in English lately and I have found different phrases and words of which I can't find satisfying meanings/explanations in the internet, I'd appreciate it if someone could help me out with these:

-be broken into doing
-last someone X years
-let on to doing
-at a sharp pace (does this mean "with long steps" / "quickly"?)
-dolly wheel (I take it's a type of wheel but can't quite figure out what type exaclty.)
-in profile to
-lamp (I can't remember the entire sentence but I remember "lamp" was used as a verb.)
-make to do
-slantingway
-pitched-in
-devil-may-careish
-send on to sb
-be all up with black and white
-talk onesef purple


Also, what's the difference between "dump smth" / "dump smth off" and "rile" / "rile up"?

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 18:02
by Dormouse559
-last someone X years - "to last X years" means that something remains useful for X years. The "someone" is the owner of whatever "lasts" and is optional. So if I have a coat that remains useful for three years, I can say "That coat lasted (me) three years."

-dolly wheel - I think this may just be a wheel on a dolly, which may be any of several devices: 1, 2, 3, …

-in profile to - at a right angle to the viewer, so that the silhouette - aka profile - is visible

-make to do - to make someone do something. To me it sounds dialectal.

-pitched-in - (adjectival) leaning inward, (verb, "pitch in") to help in a task, to contribute money or other resources

-devil-may-careish - "Devil-may-care" is an adjective meaning "carefree, reckless", so "devil-may-careish" would mean "somewhat carefree or reckless"

-send on to sb - to send something that one has received to someone else. For instance, if I want to send a letter to Person A but don't know their address, I could send the letter to Person B, who does know their address, and then Person B can send it on to Person A.

-talk oneself purple - to talk extensively or excessively, often about a single topic

"rile" / "rile up" - I don't detect a big difference in meaning really. I feel like "rile up" may be more common.


I don't feel as confident with these, without more context, but here are my guesses:

-at a sharp pace (does this mean "with long steps" / "quickly"?) - The picture I'm getting is of a very purposeful, confident gait, which could certainly be fast

-slantingway - maybe an alternate form of "slantwise", meaning "diagonally, at an angle"

-let on to doing - "to let on that" means to reveal something ("I didn't let on that we were planning a surprise party.") Your phrase might have something to do with that, but I haven't seen it used with a verb before.


I don't know what to make of these ones really. I'll learn as much as you from any answers they get:
-lamp (I can't remember the entire sentence but I remember "lamp" was used as a verb.)
-be all up with black and white
"dump smth" / "dump smth off"

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 18:27
by IpseDixit
:o Thanks a lot!

---

What about "be broken into doing"?

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 19:31
by Dormouse559
Oh, I forgot about that. Put it in the "just guessing" category. "to break sth in" means causing something to function better or more comfortably through use, like you break in new shoes. And something that's undergone this process is "broken in". So that might be connected, but I've never encountered your phrase before. Maybe "be used to doing"?

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 19:37
by IpseDixit
I see, thanks for the effort again.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 20:22
by vijayjohn
IpseDixit, this is just a suggestion, but for the ones where Dormouse was just guessing or couldn't come up with an explanation, maybe the context would help make it clearer. :)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-04-15, 20:36
by IpseDixit
vijayjohn wrote:IpseDixit, this is just a suggestion, but for the ones where Dormouse was just guessing or couldn't come up with an explanation, maybe the context would help make it clearer. :)


Yeah, I know, but it would take me too much time to refind the passages where I found those phrases. :(

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-07-06, 11:09
by IpseDixit
Can you guys suggest me some good books about English (especially American English) phonology?

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-07-22, 17:20
by linguoboy
IpseDixit wrote:Can you guys suggest me some good books about English (especially American English) phonology?

What aspects are you interested in?

I could recommend some general works (like Wells' Accents of English), but I'm not sure they'd really give you more information than you could easily find online.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-07-23, 7:53
by IpseDixit
linguoboy wrote:
IpseDixit wrote:Can you guys suggest me some good books about English (especially American English) phonology?

What aspects are you interested in?

I could recommend some general works (like Wells' Accents of English), but I'm not sure they'd really give you more information than you could easily find online.


I was thinking about something general since I don't even know more specific aspects of the discipline. But yeah, on second thought, probably Wikipedia is enough.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-07-29, 10:11
by IpseDixit
Is "all while" an alternative form of "all the while"?

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-07-29, 12:38
by linguoboy
IpseDixit wrote:Is "all while" an alternative form of "all the while"?

Nope, they're used differently. All while is adverb plus preposition while all the while is an adverb:

"A Westmoreland County family says their dog ran away, was taken to the pound, and adopted out to another family, all while they were away."

"Tess and Clare unconsciously studied each other, ever balanced on the edge of a passion, yet apparently keeping out of it. All the while they were converging, under an irresistible law, as surely as two streams in one vale."

"All while" could be replaced with "all during the time (when)" and "all the while" with "the whole time" without changing the meaning, but the reverse is not true.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-11-16, 22:18
by IpseDixit
What's the most common way to call New York City? New York, New York City, NY, NYC, something else? And I've never understood if the "City" part must always be added or if it's used only when it might not be clear whether you're referring to the city or the state.

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-11-17, 0:07
by linguoboy
IpseDixit wrote:What's the most common way to call New York City? New York, New York City, NY, NYC, something else? And I've never understood if the "City" part must always be added or if it's used only when it might not be clear whether you're referring to the city or the state.

IME, "New York" is the most common designation. (If anything, people say "New York state" more often in order to disambiguate.)

Re: IpseDixit - English

Posted: 2016-12-06, 23:00
by IpseDixit
What does "lead someone over" mean?