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-2 votes
1 answer
66 views

What does "some" refer to in the context? [closed]

In this article from The Economist it says: As Britons took to holidaying in the actual Mediterranean, some began to decline; austerity and covid-19 finished them off. The short line " some ...
user330039's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
435 views

What does ‘capture by employees’ mean in 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕 in the context of being a ‘vice’ of speculative activity in investment banking?

What is ‘capture by employees’? In this past week’s January 26th issue of The Economist, the phrase capture by employees appears in a leading article* titled “The Humbling of Goldman Sachs” in this ...
user330039's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
37 views

Understanding the context of 'yes' in this sentence [duplicate]

Pretend I have the following conversation with somebody, either through internet text messaging or a verbal in person communication. The brief conversation is below. I ask: Would you like me to ...
securityauditor's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
124 views

Does 'pre-empt' have 'presage, signal, or indicate' as one of its meanings in current British English usage?

A UK Ministry of Defence 'Intelligence Update' posted on Twitter on October 29, 2022, includes the following bullet point: In the Russian national identity, [Prince Grigory] Potemkin is heavily ...
Sven Yargs's user avatar
  • 165k
0 votes
2 answers
938 views

“OSC” meaning in Jeffrey Archer’s UK police/crime novel set in the 1980s

you might need to call your OSC and find out if he can supply us with any details.’ ‘I can’t call Heath,’ said William. ‘He only ever contacts me.’ — Hidden in Plain Sight, Jeffrey Archer From ...
k1eran's user avatar
  • 22.6k
7 votes
3 answers
451 views

How is UK "bloody" understood in the US in 2022?

How likely is it for the average person in the US, with a reasonable cultural understanding of the world to realize that Sentence 1, "I have to finish that bloody project," is loosely a UK ...
aparente001's user avatar
  • 21.6k
0 votes
1 answer
112 views

What does “in our children we lived again” mean?

From David Copperfield by Charles Dickens He was full of eloquence. He gave us to understand that in our children we lived again, and that, under the pressure of pecuniary difficulties, any accession ...
Ethan's user avatar
  • 145
0 votes
1 answer
348 views

What does the expression "the school first XI rugger team" mean? [closed]

I found this sentence in a novel set in Cornwall. The complete sentence is: Daddy is very proud that you have made the school first XI rugger team. The boy in the team il 16 y.o. and he lives in the ...
Cicc's user avatar
  • 615
-1 votes
1 answer
189 views

What does "Reverts to type in" means?

What does "Reverts to type in" means in this headline: "Donald Trump reverts to type in debate – and it isn't 'magnificently brilliant"
Lola's user avatar
  • 7
0 votes
0 answers
79 views

Not able to understand the meaning of a particular sentence

"When she joined the organization, my mother was an 18-year old, fair and green-eyed plump girl with a ready laugh. Most men around her were older to her-coming from varied backgrounds, rural, ...
Shashwat Choudhary's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
75 views

Meaning of the last paragraph ( in bold text ) [closed]

That night we were to have Mr Chamberlain as our dinner guest. ‘I am dining in very bad company,’ he observed, surveying us with a challenging air. We explained how inept and arrogant the action of ...
saonnet's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
81 views

Meaning of "no odds against success affected me"

Now I was in the right mood for these undertakings – failure being almost certain, no odds against success affected me. It's used in the above sentence. Failure being almost certain means that sure ...
saonnet's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
180 views

"Don't they carry one back to all one's parties?"

In Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party (1921), there is this question I cannot decipher semantically nor grammatically. In this scene, this high-society family is preparing a garden party. Cream ...
calm-tedesco's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
60 views

Can you please explain the significance of "problems" at the end of the sentence?

I wrote a mail asking for some job to be done at the earliest. I was replied with "I'll do it this afternoon, problems." I don't understand the meaning of that extra "problems" at ...
Aditya Shrivastava's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
83 views

"Animal skin treated" - what does "treated" mean in this context?

The skin of animals like cows, buffaloes, goats, crocodiles, snakes and camels are treated and used as leather to make belts, shoes, bags and purses etc. Can you please explain the meaning of treated ...
Pankaj's user avatar
  • 162

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