- Why . . . ? vs. Why is it that . . . ? - English Language Usage Stack . . .
I don't know why, but it seems to me that Bob would sound a bit strange if he said, "Why is it that you have to get going?" in that situation
- Origin of fag (meaning a cigarette in British English)
This appears to be speculative, and doesn't necessarily explain why this definition fell into common usage to indicate a cigarette I'm looking for something more concrete indicating what caused it to be used in this context What is the origin of this meaning of the word?
- Reason for different pronunciations of lieutenant
While Americans (and possibly others) pronounce this as "loo-tenant", folks from the UK pronounce it as "lef-tenant" Why?
- Why was Spook a slur used to refer to African Americans?
I understand that the word spook is a racial slur that rose in usage during WWII; I also know Germans called black gunners Spookwaffe What I don't understand is why Spook seems to also mean 'ghos
- indefinite articles - Is it a usual or an usual? Why? - English . . .
As Jimi Oke points out, it doesn't matter what letter the word starts with, but what sound it starts with Since "usual" starts with a 'y' sound, it should take 'a' instead of 'an' Also, If you say "today was an usual day", unless your pronunciation is extremely clear, you risk being misunderstood as "today was unusual day", which will only confuse your listeners
- Why is c*nt so much more derogatory in the US than the UK?
Why is 'c*nt' so much more derogatory in the US than the UK? Ask Question Asked 14 years, 7 months ago Modified 8 years, 11 months ago
- Does pro- always precede pre- in a sequence? If so, why?
In biological vocabulary, sometimes both pre- and pro- are used as prefixes to indicate something earlier in a sequence For example, pro-B cells develop into pre-B cells, which eventually develop
- etymology - Why is “number” abbreviated as “No. ”? - English Language . . .
The spelling of number is number, but the abbreviation is No (№) There is no letter o in number, so where does this spelling come from?
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