How bad is the usage of the word suck in English? Is this “bad boy” language or commonly used? Answer It is certainly colloquial, and there are formal settings in which I wouldn’t use it. Wiktionary marks it as “colloquial”, and Merriam-Webster even as “slang”. That being said, the word is not as “bad-boy” as … Read more
Dictionary.com lists eight meanings of gay, with “merry, lively” as the first entry. Microsoft banned an Xbox user for listing Fort Gay (a real place) as his hometown: Xbox Live considered the term gay absolutely inappropriate in any context. As a non-native English speaker, my question is whether in contemporary English, does gay always mean … Read more
There is a related discussion on this Q&A site. My question is different. I’m all for gender awareness, but why hasn’t a properly defined pronoun “it” been used instead of “he/she” or “he or she”, etc. Am I missing something? Oxford English Dictionary: It: 1. a. As the proper neuter pronoun of the third person … Read more
I am confused: on the one hand, many of my native-speaker friends keep telling me that the f-word is very, very bad. Much worse than the s-word for example. On the other hand, I see it being used everywhere; for example, in the blogosphere, even by respectable economic blogs (e.g. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-fuck-deficit-or-will-deficit-end-fucking-us). Is the former intensity … Read more
How “bad” is white trash considered? Are people generally hurt by being called this, or is it considered milder then for example nigger? Are someone using this word considered a bigot? Is it ever used in main stream texts like newspapers or the like? Mostly see it used in comments or other entries on the … Read more
I know that “tit” means nipple, and can be used to refer the to the breast as a whole, and has a few unrelated meanings. But can it be used in a normal context to mean a man’s nipples, or only a woman’s nipples? I’ve heard of the expression “As useless as tits on a … Read more
“What the hell?” is a toned down variant of “what the fu**” and can be considered offensive in some formal contexts. My question is more about other expressions like “hell no!”. Is it impolite or offensive as well? Answer “Hell no” is a way of conveying strong emphasis in one’s disagreement. As Berker mentioned, “politeness” … Read more
I sometimes come across Japanese speakers using the phrase “My [nationality] friend”. For example, something like “I met my German friend in Kyoto and we went to Kiyomizudera yesterday.” (The name of the friend isn’t mentioned, but that’s normal because it’s from something written on the internet) This feels strange to me, but I’m not … Read more
I was using the phrase “suit yourself” quite often since the equivalent in my native language it is a legitimate way to express “do whatever you consider the best.” However, when I used this phrase in a dialogue with a person from UK, I was told that it is quite impolite. I goggled the phrase … Read more
When talking about a person from Japan, why is it offensive to say “a Japanese” rather than “a Japanese person”? The English language Wiktionary says (person in or from Japan): The singular “a Japanese” is less common than locutions using the adjective, such as “a Japanese person”, and is considered potentially offensive by many speakers. … Read more
