All Questions
3,577
questions
8
votes
1
answer
107
views
"Why don't we close these duplicates?" vs "Why do we not close these duplicates?" vs "Why do not we close these questions as duplicates?"
I found a bunch of questions about these grammatical formulations:
"Why don't we close these duplicates?" (Negated question using a contraction)
"Why do we not close these duplicates?&...
LaurelMod
- 57.4k
1
vote
1
answer
27
views
Dictionaries that do a good job explaining nuances in how words are used
I find dictionaries tend to provide definitions that are too general and don't cut to the heart of how words are distinctly used. Is there a dictionary that does a better job defining words or ...
0
votes
0
answers
34
views
Online collocations search engine? [duplicate]
What's the best collocations search website you've used?
I recall there being one associated with Oxford but can no longer find it. It returned results from classical and modern English sources, ...
- 101
-1
votes
1
answer
131
views
What is the recourse when mods delete comments without notice?
This question had a score of 3 before someone initiated a 'close vote' followed by the score being reduced to 0. I posted in comments asking the people who did it (both the close vote and downvote) to ...
1
vote
2
answers
245
views
Prescriptivist versus descriptivist?
On this site, particularly if mine is to be the first answer, I believe it is the accepted approach for me to supply an answer to a question in as much detail as I can muster, for example: a) this ...
- 1,302
14
votes
2
answers
350
views
If the question is worth answering, it is worth upvoting
Just a gentle reminder to all users/contributors here...
I have said this a number of times in comment on the main, but as basic netiquette, if a question post is worth your time to do the research ...
-7
votes
1
answer
115
views
Mnemonics should be considered "Usage" instead of "Opinion"
I have a question about my English Language & Usage Stack Exchange post: Mnemonics for Months' Series
I put my question under "mnemonics" tag and it got closed for being opinion based ...
- 101
5
votes
1
answer
98
views
The "short fuse" question is not opinion based
The question What sparked the figurative usage of “short fuse” in the 1960s? was closed as an “opinion based” one.
I am not asking for opinions, and the fact that users give their personal opinions ...
- 60.1k
0
votes
0
answers
34
views
Website that identifies different sentence types
I am trying to find a website that I used a while ago that identified different sentence types. You paste the text into the text box and then through a selection of buttons on the right, you could ...
- 1
-5
votes
3
answers
228
views
Do the moderators of the site monitor and attempt to bring consistency among voting behaviour of contributors?
I have compiled some stats concerning a few regular contributors to the site and have discovered a huge variation in the frequency with which they up-vote, and also down-vote other's contributions. ...
- 63.7k
6
votes
1
answer
156
views
Can my answer ban please be lifted?
I last answered over a year ago, and I've recently returned to the site as I want to help and share my knowledge of the English language. However, I still can't answer.
I understand that some of my ...
-7
votes
2
answers
123
views
Vote to close plus an answer
The post that highlights this is When is "sex" sex, and when is it "gender"?
I both voted to close and answered the question (apparently not my finest answer).
This is not the ...
- 28.6k
7
votes
2
answers
224
views
What is wrong with a discussion of opinion?
The question I raised here has already suffered one vote to close - for being "opinion based".
Does not "opinion" lie at the heart of the way language develops? There seems to me a ...
- 63.7k
-1
votes
4
answers
156
views
Feature Request: Answer/User tags
From time time to time I take a break from this site, and in one of those more-recent breaks, I 'discovered' Reddit.
After a couple of months, and one unjustified ban, I came to the realization that ...
12
votes
2
answers
113
views
Can we use the link replacement tool to fix links to English-corpora.org?
Context: Due to some sort of falling out, the Corpus of Contemporary English, British National Corpus, and several others moved from corpus.byu.org to english-corpora.org and changed their collective ...
LaurelMod
- 57.4k
1
vote
1
answer
235
views
Why was a helpful comment removed?
I posted a comment under the following question giving , I presume, some helpful indications on the subject asked by the OP (clearly a new user).
The question was off-topic for a number of reasons, ...
- 60.1k
-1
votes
1
answer
131
views
Wasn't your issue with so called "opinion based" question opinion based?
I have a question about my English Language & Usage Stack Exchange post: Punctuation rule in U.S. English
My post wasn't by any means opinion-based. How it is different from questions about "...
user450634
3
votes
1
answer
129
views
Can we have an optional dark theme?
Inspired by a post on Economics SE, I switched my Stack Overflow theme to dark from the Settings page. This will be based on user preference and not a site wide change. Can we have a similar option on ...
NVZMod
- 22.3k
4
votes
2
answers
141
views
Question deleted in 2011 is on-topic in 2022
I suggest that the following question, which is deleted and invisible to users with less than 10K reputation, ought to be undeleted.
What is the English equivalent to the Russian proverb ""...
- 85.6k
8
votes
5
answers
751
views
What should ELU's criteria be for removing a question from the HNQ list?
In the announcement of changes to the Hot Network Questions list (HNQ), it says:
We're putting the power in the hands of our moderators to remove questions that don't set a good example for their ...
- 1,331
0
votes
2
answers
311
views
Why was this question removed from the HNQ list?
I would like to know why What is the origin of "playing into someone's hands"? was removed from the HNQ1 list. According to the guidance given in this post
In general, we recommend that ...
- 9,187
2
votes
3
answers
103
views
Does self-deletion of a comment flagged as 'unkind' lock in the flag?
Quite some time ago, a hi-rep user told me in a comment on meta that self-deletion of a comment on the main which has already been flagged as "unfriendly or unkind" will lock in that flag, ...
26
votes
1
answer
482
views
2022 Community Moderator Election Results
Moderator election #6 on English Language & Usage has come to a close, the votes have been tallied, and the new moderators are:
They will be joining the existing crew shortly — please thank them ...
- 101
11
votes
3
answers
208
views
Worth noting: “Staging Ground” coming to Stack Overflow
SO is initiating the trial of a new feature, the “Staging Ground”.
This effectively acts as a review process that occurs before a question asked by a new user appears on the main page. It’s something ...
- 28.5k
-2
votes
1
answer
196
views
If I am NOT running for Mod, but would like to state my personal platform
Recently, Meta has become a little confusing for me...
We have Mod elections, and Question collection, but if I am not actively seeking election yet would still like to post my opinion vis a vis site ...
5
votes
2
answers
232
views
How can I get my candidate score, as in Mod elections
See any election page.
Out of curiosity, is this an HTML thing?
...or is this a function of Flair?
2
votes
0
answers
61
views
Why are "Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references..." off-topic?
I recently had a question closed for lack of research/ answers being in "commonly-available references".
My question is, why is this considered a good reason to close a question? Surely, the ...
- 123
12
votes
2
answers
316
views
WD-40 pronunciation question treated badly
We had a potentially interesting question based on pronunciation of a common house-hold chemical....
The question was quickly shoved off without much ado to the closed questions queue and closed..
It ...
9
votes
2
answers
91
views
How do I know if my vote has been registered?
I have ordered the four candidates in the current election, but there seems to be no mechanism to check and then confirm/finalize my vote.
There is a note that my choices have been “saved” but what is ...
- 10.4k
-8
votes
1
answer
211
views
Why I enjoy EL&U users more than dictionaries [closed]
I need to share my heart. Maybe this is a therapy post, but I really mean it.
I don't like Dictionary-only answers
I don't want to single out any users as examples, because that's not my point.
I want ...
- 1,077
-10
votes
1
answer
66
views
This community should include opinion and subjects which fall under creative English
Creative English and public opinion is a part of English and of communication.
If you do not allow for such communication on this site, you will soon become irrelevant and ineffective as happens to ...
- 804
11
votes
3
answers
856
views
2022 Community Moderator Election
The 2022 Community Moderator Election is now underway!
Community moderator elections have three phases:
Nomination phase
Primary phase
Election phase
Most elections take between two and three weeks, ...
0
votes
0
answers
30
views
Can you recommend some books on recreational wordplay, like Alphabet Avenue? [closed]
So far, I have found these:
The Game of Words by Espy
Alphabet Avenue
The Dictionary of wordplay by Dave Morice
Are there other books like these? Not necessarily in English, other languages (French, ...
- 1
16
votes
9
answers
1k
views
2022 Moderator Election Q&A – Question Collection
The purpose of this thread was to collect questions for the questionnaire. The questionnaire is now live, and you may find it here.
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is scheduled for an ...
- 101
2
votes
0
answers
47
views
Can I get my question reopened please?
My question: In English, are trains female? has been closed due to apparently being a duplicate of What is the gender of an aircraft?
Obviously, aircraft and trains are not the same thing, and my ...
- 319
8
votes
2
answers
102
views
How to stop links in comments taking up the entire character allowance
I don't know if this has happened to you, but I find it excruciatingly annoying when, in a relatively short comment, a link I've included takes up a hundred or even two hundred characters, thereby ...
0
votes
1
answer
44
views
How can I edit my question that was closed as opinion based?
I asked the question Mnemonic for the planets in Indian English about back in 2020. The question has been closed as opinion-based after less than 2 years. However, I need to ask something about this &...
0
votes
0
answers
62
views
Why is my question about "aboot" locked? [duplicate]
Are Canadianisms like "aboot" equally common on the American side of the border, adjacent to it?
I understand that people can still answer it, but at first glance it looks like there is some ...
- 1,281
2
votes
1
answer
62
views
Should this oxymoron question be reopened?
Oxymoron pronunciation
This question is closed for not including research. Is this because the specific dictionaries are not cited?
I think the question is fine, if that is the only problem.
I think ...
- 28.7k
1
vote
2
answers
69
views
A resource for finding letter frequencies with certain restrictions
I'm looking for a resource where I can see the frequencies of letters in with respect to their position inside the word and the length of the word. I'd also like to see the frequencies of different ...
- 121
1
vote
0
answers
77
views
Do you like the new layout?
A few days ago the layout of SE sites front pages has changed, to a considerable extent IMO.
I know that it is probably the result of a hard and carefully thought process of programmers and site ...
- 60.1k
28
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Who will take up the mantle?
Happy new year!
tl;dr: there will be a moderator election some time in March. Start thinking about if you'd like to be elected.
UPDATE The community management team have let me know they are working ...
- 28.7k
1
vote
0
answers
16
views
Any good POS tagging websites?
I thought I had found one that was pretty good (Parts-of-speech.info), but I just entered the sentence "The kids hoot." and it told me "determiner noun noun." If it can't identify &...
- 29
2
votes
0
answers
36
views
Metaphor classification
When I asked a metaphor related question, that is now closed, I was told to read the following article by Richard Nordquist about the different metaphor types. I am now looking for a more ...
- 139
7
votes
2
answers
152
views
Do we cover history *of the use* of phrases? "Who-said-it-first" research questions?
I just suggested that this question, regardless of edits, might never be on-topic here, because "When did this phrase first appear in print" isn't really etymology, or even linguistics; it's ...
- 5,611
2
votes
1
answer
35
views
Would a question about a specific English language tool be on topic?
Can language tools (typically, but not exclusively, software tools) be asked about on English SE?
I have a question about how I can work out where a term is used. It's along the lines of:
A common ...
- 479
-4
votes
1
answer
100
views
Why banned from asking question?
I don't understand why I should be banned from asking question on English Language & Usage. May you remove the block, please.
- 151
10
votes
0
answers
118
views
2021: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
- 101
3
votes
0
answers
71
views
Etymology of words in translations
Maybe this should be in linguistics but I'll try here...
I have had this idea for a long time but productivity has never been part of my character. I'll take full credit of the idea and I am willing ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
How to find a partner to learn English together?
I'm a Chinese. I want to find a friend from abroad to practise English. I think that it will be better to learn a language by communication.
I appreciate it if you know some ways or some platforms.
...
- 1