- Why . . . ? vs. Why is it that . . . ? - English Language Usage Stack . . .
Why not: I don't know why, but it seems to me Bob would sound a bit strange if he said, "Why is it that you have to get going?" Eliminating 'that' before 'Bob' would seem to be more in context with the criticism of the way Bob sounds This beside the point that "Why do you have to get going?" is more direct
- Origin of fag (meaning a cigarette in British English)
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it comes from "fag", meaning a loose piece of cloth: fag (n 1) Look up fag at Dictionary com British slang for "cigarette" (originally, especially, the butt of a smoked cigarette), 1888, probably from fag "loose piece, last remnant of cloth" (late 14c , as in fag-end "extreme end, loose piece," 1610s), which perhaps is related to fag (v ), which
- Why is c*nt so much more derogatory in the US than the UK?
That's a very good question It certainly is offensive here in the US, and I'm not sure why it's considered so much worse than other "Anglo-Saxon" words I've used all of the other ones on occasion But in 52 years, I've used "cunt" anatomically only a handful of times, and I can't recall ever using it as a slang reference for a woman
- Why would you do that? - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Why would you do that? is less about tenses and more about expressing a somewhat negative surprise or amazement, sometimes enhanced by adding ever: Why would you ever do that? It is in fact part of a conditional sentence in which the if clause is omitted but implied The implied part could be for example: If you were in your right mind,
- How does pussy come to mean coward?
The word pussy is often used to mean "coward" This guy is a pussy and I am wondering why How are woman's genitals related to being a "coward"?
- Why does the b in absorb change to a p in absorption?
English, however, mostly favors Progressive assimilation -- that's why the {-Z} suffixes of noun plural, noun possessive, and verb 3sgpresent vary between s and z ; they take their voicing parameter from the sound that comes before them The {-D} verb past tense suffix varies between d and t in the same way
- indefinite articles - Is it a usual or an usual? Why? - English . . .
An hour is correct, because hour starts with a vowel sound People seem to ask most often about words that start with the letters h and u because sometimes these words start with vowel sounds and sometimes they start with consonant sounds
- Why is pineapple in English but ananas in all other languages?
I don't think we are discussing whether "ananas" or "pineapple" was used first, but where it came from and why the English language does not use "ananas" today I would say that whoever introduced the ananas to the public first used the term "pineapple" and that is how the word became the accepted name for the fruit –
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