Help with English
- Thread starter Saint
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It's where a new word is constrcuted using both the sound and meaning of two other words, in this case "net" and "citizen".
Or like "smog" is a combination of both the sounds and meaning of the two words "SMoke" and fOG".
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Specifically, a portmanteau (also called "portmanteau word" since many people are not familiar with the concept) is a combination of two words in which at least one syllable from one word has been omitted. Although in some cases, like "smog," omitting just a couple of phonemes is acceptable.
"Netizen" is a good example, because the entire word "net" is used (there's no way to remove one syllable from a one-syllable word
), but the first syllable of "citizen" has been removed.However, "starfish" is a compound, not a portmanteau, because both words are taken in their entirety.
A humorous synonym for "portmanteau" is "frankenword." The word itself is a portmanteau, with the last syllable of "Frankenstein" omitted.
The word "portmanteau" comes from French portemanteau, a piece of luggage divided into two compartments, from porter, "to carry" and manteau,"coat" (the same as our old-fashioned word "mantle" meaning "cape" or "sleeveless cloak"). We (occasionally) use "portmanteau" in its original sense of "luggage" in English, but over the centuries the French word has lost its original meaning and is now a "coat rack."
Be sure not to confuse a portmanteau with an acronym such as "dink," a rather derogatory term for a married couple who are quite prosperous because they have Double Income, No Kids.
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I'd say it is more meaning to join the game... the "game" in this situation is the negotiations. Basically you have Greece as one team and Europe as the opposition, both striving to get what they want out of the negotiations.
Of course Europe don't have to join the negotiations, they don't have to play the negotiation game, so don't have to "play ball".
Of course Europe don't have to join the negotiations, they don't have to play the negotiation game, so don't have to "play ball".
"Brush" in this context means an encounter, generally not a positive one. I think it comes from c.mid-1400 English usage. "Law" is another word for the police/legal system.
Brush originally referred to a thicket, bush, shrubbery etc. And if you tried to go through it you would likely get scratched. So if you "brush past" someone, you make some contact but not enough to do any lasting damage, and often only minimal contact is made.
So a "brush with the law" means to have had some contact with the police / legal system in the past, from which they probably did not emerge unscathed, but also probably not significantly troubled.
It basically means to turn something over so that its top is now where its bottom/end was, and its bottom (or end) is at now the top (i.e. up).
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
It's a reference to baseball, a sport that is not very popular in Europe, but is extremely popular in the USA and many of the other countries in the Western Hemisphere, as well as Japan and Taiwan.
Many games are played with balls, but if someone just says "ball," it's understood that they mean baseball.
It's traditional for a game to begin when the umpire shouts, "Play ball!"
From the French penser, to think, pensive = thoughtful. In context, when you're deep in thought, you may look like you don't want to talk.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
It is a cute misspelling of "want to be," which, if you say it quickly, does sound a lot like "wannabe."
So a wannabe rock star, (or a rock star wannabe, it can be used either way) is someone who wants to be a rock star and believes he or she has the talent to do it.
The term is generally used only if the person is a little foolish and doesn't really have the talent or resources to achieve the goal. For example, a university student who is taking courses in biology, getting good grades, and has a job in the biology laboratory after school, is not a "wannabe biologist." He is a person who intends to actually be a biologist, and has a very good chance of succeeding. We would call him a "future biologist."
On the other hand, a person who has very poor vision and bad dexterity, and says he is going to make a living playing pool (or snooker, billiards, etc.) is a wannabe pool shark.
Good question. I believe either one works, but but I would be interested in Fraggle Rocker's comment on the distinction between the two.., if any.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
"Wash" is used as an intransitive verb (a verb with no direct object) in several specific situations. For example, if someone suggests a plan for making a lot of money without working very hard, and we discover that he doesn't have any skills, we say, "That won't wash." It's usually used in the negative; I've never actually heard anyone say, "That will wash."
But the word is also used in a sense closer to the original. It means to be carried or driven by water onto land. In the USA we're more likely to say "wash up," as in "some of the ship's cargo washed up on the beach." But "wash ashore" is the same thing: "Some broken pieces of the lost airplane washed ashore thousands of miles from the assumed crash site."
We don't say "has been washed ashore." No one would misunderstand this, but it's just not the way the idiom is constructed.
We say both in the UK - just google the phrase "has been washed up" (complete with quotation marks) and see the UK media using it frequently (not that the UK media is the cornerstone of correct use of our beloved language!)
Does it not depend whether you use "washed up" as the past tense of the verb "to wash up", or as an adjectival phrase?
In the case of an adjective I was taught that the general rule is that if the verb "to be" is modifying a noun it must be followed by an adjective.
So in the case of cargo one, one can use "to be" followed by the adjectival phrase "washed up" - so you end up with "the cargo has been washed up / washed ashore" - the adjective "washed up/ashore" is modifying the noun "cargo".
Personally I also tend to use "has been washed up/ashore" because the object itself is not the one doing the actual work but is merely the object that the sea washes up.
This would be the same as if you carry a box: the box has been carried, it doesn't do the carrying.
It's quite probable, however, that this is just a quirk of my thinking rather than anything else.