All Questions
Tagged with british-english north-american-english
46
questions
1
vote
2
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225
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Connotations of "that's too bad" between American and British english
I am a Canadian, but I study in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have discovered a peculiar feature of my speach that seems to surprise most people from here. When ill befalls others, I use the phrase "...
- 113
4
votes
3
answers
856
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The meaning of "come home"
In India, when I ask a friend to "come home", it often means I am inviting the friend to my home. I am told that this is different in England or the US, where native speakers would use "...
- 269
2
votes
1
answer
189
views
How do American speakers use the present subjunctive in a less formal way on American-English?
Although we don't use present subjunctive often, there are some kind of times you practically need to use it. For example, in British-English you usually use "should" in the present ...
- 21
0
votes
1
answer
293
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What is the origin of the meaning of 'counter' to express the surface on which goods or money is counted? [closed]
The OED does not appear to list the meaning of the noun 'counter' which conveys the concept of a flat surface over which goods or money is counted, except that it lists the verb 'to counter' as having ...
- 24.8k
0
votes
0
answers
41
views
Is “be confident in your capacity” grammatically correct?
I'm trying to learn some new English recently, is this sentence grammatically correct?
Be confident in your capacity.
Does it sound weird to say? To me it seems like when saying capacity some ...
2
votes
1
answer
187
views
Social Distance vs Social Distancing
Quick question.
Are there any differences between these two words?
Social Distance
Social Distancing
What I understand from the first one is Social( ADJ ) + Distance (N).
I do not understand why ...
- 25
0
votes
2
answers
269
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How often do you use 'nowadays' vs 'these days' in your dialect?
I would say that in South Africa, nowadays is rather quaint; something that perhaps Boomers and older or second language speakers would use. Unfortunately, I cautioned a student nearly a year ago ...
-1
votes
1
answer
148
views
Usage of Comma to remove ambiguity
Soon after the military operations, an 11 member committee headed by Mr. ABC was set up to suggest measures that would enhance the combat capability of the armed forces and to also, balance defence ...
2
votes
5
answers
420
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Why do U.S. Americans say "a good value" (using indefinite article "a")
Take this example from the Airbnb website: "What would have made this listing a better value?"
This souds absolutely horrible and incorrect to my Australian ears (I would omit the "a"). I've also ...
- 31
-3
votes
1
answer
181
views
What are the feminine equivalents of "Running mate"?
From Wikipedia:
In the United States, "running mate" refers not only to a candidate
for vice president (federal), but also to a candidate for lieutenant
governors of those states where the ...
- 137
1
vote
1
answer
4k
views
Does "throw a leg over" means "riding a horse" or "sexual intercourse"?
Now anyone reading this article - http://mentalfloss.com/article/31841/why-new-york-city-called-big-apple and especially this line from that: "The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a ...
- 499
5
votes
4
answers
748
views
Idiom for premonition
I am trying to remember an idiom that is used when someone has a premonition about something, often coincidentally i.e. I am thinking about someone and then they call me. I know there is the ...
- 51
-2
votes
1
answer
76
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Go and come as verbs and the ommitting of and
I have a question relating to the verbs "come" and "go" plus another verb. Why do americans say come sing with us (for example and not come AND sing with us (as is the norm in English English. Like ...
- 15
1
vote
4
answers
8k
views
"The cat that got the cream" - is there any innuendo?
I think this is a British idiom.
The American version would be, "The cat that killed the canary."
I was about to say this to a female friend, intended as a "well done" sort of compliment, ...
- 950
15
votes
5
answers
2k
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Do native speakers of major English varieties actually say "a software" or "softwares"?
So I've looked up the word "software" around, and I've learned that -ware words are uncountable, and there's even a claim at the Wiktionary entry for this word that "a software" or "softwares" are a ...
- 5,401