What does “Is Dorothy Grossbaum good for five dollars?” mean?

I’m reading The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (4th edition) and there is one sentence that I just don’t get: … Ben’s father died in 1903, the porcelain business faltered, and the family slid haltingly into poverty. Ben’s mother turned their home into a boardinghouse; then, borrowing money to trade stocks “on margin,” she was … Read more

meaning of ‘shake loose’

A: They might slip up. Or he might slip up. Either way. They make him, my whole investigation goes south. B: Your ‘whole’ investigation? A: Some things shook loose, yeah. There are more moving pieces than expected. There might be more victims. The speaker B though it’s just ‘an’ investigation not ‘whole’ investigation. But the … Read more

Is “crib bag” the Australian equivalent of “carryall” in AmE?

I have seen bags labeled “crib bags” on Australian websites. I never really understand what they are precisely or whether “crib” refers to the material or the shape of the bag. It seems the bags that fall under this category range from satchels, to tool bags, to carryalls (holdalls in BrE.) For example this site … Read more

meaning of ‘two-fifties’

what does ‘two-fifties’ meaning? “You know the drill— two-fifties, two-fifties, two-fifties. Stop-and-frisk ‘til we get this guy.” I listen to this talk from a detective on the TV drama ‘Law & Order’. I can’t find it on a dictionary or Google. Please help me! Answer I believe the sentence is referencing “250”, which is an … Read more

Are both “**listing** of items” and “**list** of items”, grammatical and idiomatic? If yes, when should I use the former?

This post says It gives you an alphabetical listing of valid names (attributes) in the scope (object). This is pretty much the meaning of the word directory in english. As a non-native english speaker, I would say “It gives you an alphabetical list of valid names”. I’ve no clue whether it is a gerund or … Read more

Who became a professor?

In sentence They were rescued by Joseph-Louis Liouville, the son of a captain in Napoleon’s army who became a professor in the Collège de France. who became a professor: Joseph or his father? Photo of the source: Why beauty is truth: a history of symmetry / Ian Stewart. ISBN-13: 978-0-465-08236-0 Answer Poor punctuation leads to … Read more