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chiroho
chomijiAs Lewis Carroll's Alice observed, if you drink from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later. But what about venom or a toxin? Today we'll take a look at these three terms and figure out what makes them different from one another.
( With the help of the cast from Star Trek: The Original Series )
chomijiJust look at those words! Aren't they wonderful? And as readers who consume a wide variety of literature, we recognize them, don't we? Of course we do!
A more difficult question is "Do we know exactly what they mean?" For my part, I'm not ashamed to say "not exactly, no."
These sorts of words are what author Seth Stevenson calls "bubble vocabulary." In his 2014 Slate article Shibboleth. Casuistry. Recondite., he takes a look at these words at the very edges of our vocabularies and suggests some strategies for attempting to employ them.
( Wrestling with bubbles … )
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alexisjane asked when do you use "other" versus "else"?chomijiLet's explore a curious quirk shared by a very few English verbs. They're all a bit irregular, and they all have to do with putting things or people into position.
( With the help of the cast of the CLAMP manga series xxxHoLic ... ) achacunsagloire.livejournal.comkatiefoolery in her article about the same subject).bluewolf458.livejournal.comachacunsagloire.livejournal.combadtzphoto would like to know:chomiji
debirlfan asked us "What are the rules for American versus British usage for 'hospital' and 'surgery'?
It's true that British usage on these common medical terms differs from what's encountered in the United States. We'll take a closer look at how these words work.
( With help from the cast of Bleach )
chomiji
todeskun asked us, "When do you use 'fit' versus 'fitted'? As in, 'it fit him to a T' or 'it fitted him to a T'?"
It turns out that which one you use depends on which side of the Atlantic you live. Let's take a closer look.
( We'll be assisted by the cast of Batman ... ) chomiji
midnitemaraud_r asked us, "Does forward/forwards work the same way as toward/towards?"
Let's take a look, with help from the cast of the movie The Princess Bride.
( In fact, it's not inconceivable that someone could be confused by this ... )
ariestessaqua_crescent asked, "What is the difference between 'gold' and 'golden'?" chomiji
sosaith asks, "When someone is dead or something doesn't exist anymore, should you ever use the present tense to describe them?"
The answer is "it depends." Let's get down to the particulars with the cast of Rosemary Sutcliff's YA historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth - or, if you prefer, the cast of "The Eagle" (2011). ( Dead and/or gone - but not forgotten! )
chomijicampylobacter has a question about the difference between snugly and snuggly. Let's take a closer look at these close cousins with help from our immortal friends from Good Omens, Aziraphale and Crowley.
( On with the word geekery! ) green-grrl.livejournal.comkatiefoolery.livejournal.comt_verano poses an interesting question: When is it appropriate to use "which" vs. "that"? What is the appropriate comma use in each situation?mendax.livejournal.comcallistosh65 asks: When is it appropriate to use toward vs. towards? Does this change in British fandoms?ninetydegrees![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
