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March 4
Stone
We say "stone deaf", "stone cold" and "stone dead", meaning completely, utterly (apart from the fact that one cannot be only partially dead). What is the derivation of "stone" here? We also say "stone cold last" or "stone motherless last", but not, afaik, just "stone last". Why is this? And what do coldness and motherhood have to do with coming last? Why not "stone fatherless last"? JackofOz02:50, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
stone (adj.)
intensifying adj., 1935, first recorded in black slang, probably from earlier use in phrases
like stone blind (c.1375, lit. "blind as a stone"), stone deaf, etc., from stone (n.). Stone
cold sober dates from 1937.
Unreferenced again, but the motherless last intuitively makes a lot of sense to me. Orphaned and motherless imply deprivation of that which the happy others have, such as being ahead, and not last, in the queue, and thus receiving some of the good bits in the soup. Similarly cold can evoke whole clouds of associations of loneliness, discomfort, and general lack of all the happy things associated with warmth. I guess it makes sense to me, but the real etymology is probably much more twisted and counter-intuitive. ---Sluzzelintalk23:38, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What is it called when Mr. Burns from the Simpsons...
When he puts his hands together and laughs, "mauahahaha", he normally does one of two gestures: rubbing his hands together, or rythmically touching thumb to thumb, pointer to pointer, mid finger to mid finger, etc, in a kind of wavy fashion...I know there is a name for this hand movement, what is it called? Cradling your fingers? I think it is called something else... Thanks! 140.180.21.12703:33, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I've heard it called "steepling". However, I've never heard him give a "mwahahaha" laugh; he usually just says "Excellent!" —Angr05:43, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For some reason the phrase "pursing one's fingers [hands?]" has popped into my head, which would kind of make sense in this context, but I have no idea if I've actually ever heard it before or if it applies here... --Miskwito05:45, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Along the same lines of this question, what's a more eloquent way to convey that someone arched or raised an eyebrow at someone else in suspicion? z ε n.ıl06:33, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing. I just don't think it's elegant prose to write, "And then he sat, grinning, rhythmically touching thumb to thumb, pointer to pointer, mid finger to mid finger, in a kind of wavy fashion." z ε n.ıl06:26, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Steepling means your fingers are still. If they're tapping against each other, I'm not sure there is a word for it. If they were tapping a table, you'd say he was "drumming his fingers on the table," so maybe that could be tweaked into something useful. Black Carrot06:26, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
"Drumming his fingers together", maybe? But if I just heard or read that I don't think I'd be able to guess what it was referring to, so I don't know... --Miskwito07:06, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Correct English??
The following text (in English) is part of a German Wikipedia article. Some German Wikipedians argue that the text is actually incorrect (and thus want to refer to it as such in the rest of the article), so I thought I'd just ask some native speakers here: Could you do us a favor and point out which parts are incorrect? If some parts are correct, but sound awkward, could you point to those separately? Thanks.
in this difficult situation, Germany would like to emphasize the urgency of its appeal to hold the World Cup 2006 in Germany.
Let me come straight to the point:
In appreciation of your support we would like to offer you a small gift for your vote in favor of Germany:
A fine basket with specialties from the black forest, including some really good sausages, ham and -- hold on to your seat -- a wonderful KuKuClock!
It's not ungrammatical. "KuKuClock" should be spelled "cuckoo clock", "black forest" should be capitalized, and I'm not sure how idiomatic "hold on to your seat" (instead of say, "hold on to your hat") is, but otherwise it's okay. Calling it "holprig" as the de article does is exaggerated. —Angr08:19, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. I hear "hold on to your seat" at last as much as "hat", and the only other thing I can pick at is the "come" in "let me come straight to the point", which I feel should be "get", though that may be dialectal. 222.158.163.24508:25, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, you are correct; "come straight to the point" seems to be acceptable in British English, so it's just a minor dialectal difference, not a mistake in any way. 222.158.163.24508:59, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
... well, one of you guys has already edited the article accordingly, so I guess the question is settled. Thanks for your help, Ibn Battuta08:46, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I can't believe the German's bribed everyone with Cookoo Clocks! Also does it's correctness mean the English is ok, or that it is translated from German correctly?
As long as the stress falls so that it's 'Tippécanóe and Týler tóo' — which I believe is right — then it's iambic tetrameter. — Gareth Hughes18:06, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The stress pattern of Tippecanoe is Tìppecanóe though (i.e. [ˌtɪpəkəˈnuː]. However, the whole line is For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, which is almost iambic tetrameter (you'd have to lose one of the unstressed syllables of Tippecanoe for it to be perfect iambic tetrameter). —Angr18:25, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Can someone help me find a free verse poem about bullying that is 19 lines long? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.102.217.142 (talk) 18:50, 4 March 2007 (UTC).
somone help!!!!!!!!!
SOMEONE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![reply]
You will find some examples of poems on bullying here [1]. This is just to give you some ideas. These things are very personal, so please do not copy other people's work. I agree with Marco: think about the matter yourself, and write from the heart. It will be far more credible and convincing. Clio the Muse01:58, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]