Questions tagged [phrase-request]
This tag is for questions seeking a phrase that fits a meaning. If you are looking for a word, or don't care, see the "word-request" tag too.
2,753 questions
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Is it correct to say "click the watercolor pen in its place"?
My daughter has a plastic box of watercolor pens. There are several slots in the box. After using the pens, you can secure them by putting them into the slots.
When pushing a pen in the slot, it ...
- 26.6k
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Is it correct to say "draft book" to refer to a book for writing informal information?
My 7-year-old daughter's main exercise book has the question "13-7= ".
She has to write down the result of the subtraction after the "=".
What she learns is that she has to split 7 ...
- 26.6k
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Is it natural to say "he just won a pity cup"?
A famous football player had taken part in several tournaments but hadn't won any trophy.
Now he was taking part in an important one and the management of the tournaments felt sorry for him and asked ...
- 26.6k
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Why would you find "be clutch" useful or not and is there another slang/informal phrase with a similar meaning?
Someone used (might have been here and here)1 the phrase be clutch ("it's clutch") in its pure extended meaning (excellent/effective) and I didn't understand. It generally applies to ...
- 428
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Do you say "take the fifth exit" when there are 5 streets join at a roundabout?
This picture is for US traffic rule (the steering wheel is on the left).
Say, you are on street A and you can not make a U turn to move to the other side of street A but you have to go all the way ...
- 26.6k
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is it correct to say "plastic book cover"?
People mean "book cover" meaning the outside of a book or a magazine. It a part of a book when you buy it new.
But my daughter's teacher told her to put a plastic cover on the book cover to ...
- 26.6k
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Is it correct to say "I tied the shorts at the waist"?
After being washed for years, my shorts got too loose because their waistband is not tight. The reason is that when the washing machine spins, it makes the waistband less strong and not as good as ...
- 26.6k
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What is the natural way to refer to the amount of all outcomes that are planned for a day?
What would you call something that is a clearly defined, measurable result you intend to achieve by a specific date, expressed in concrete terms (numbers, facts, scales, or expert assessments - see ...
- 268
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Can I say "he fell short of something" when he tried very little or not a lot?
The dictionary says:
fall short
fail to meet an expectation or standard.
Say a company set a sale target of 1 million dollar in revenue per year.
There are 2 situations:
Situation 1: the company ...
- 26.6k
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Can I call these "pompoms"?
The Oxford dictionary says
pom-pom: a small ball made of wool, used for decoration, especially on
a hat
And, this is one of my daughter's toys. I don't know where she got it.
They look like a pompom ...
- 26.6k
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Is "Donald Trump is penny wise but pound foolish" appropriate for this situation?
Donald Trump saves money by cutting social programs like Medicaid, food stamps, or housing assistance — programs that serve low-income Americans. These programs just cost a couple billion dollars.
...
- 26.6k
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is the opposite of "sidekick" "henchman"?
It seems that people call a person who helps a hero and a villain "a sidekick" and "a henchman" respectively in a superhero movie.
Dictionaries say "sidekick: a person who ...
- 26.6k
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What is the words used to refer to the unwanted things of vegetables or fruit?
Say a woman has a bad habit of dumping "unwanted things of vegetables or fruit" into her sink and leave them there for a long time, which is gross.
So, when she peels apples, papayas, ...
- 26.6k
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We know this approach <doesn’t do any good to you> vs <doesn't do you any good>
A: What are you doing on Friday?
B: I’m meeting up with my friends from work.
A: Why do you always call them that? You never get any support or help. They don’t give you anything you need.
B: That’s ...
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Counting piano as a performance
Can I say I “I like his piano” to mean “I like his piano performances”?
If so, when you are asking someone about preference for listening to piano performances, which is the most idiomatic?
(With the ...
- 680