Questions tagged [specific-question]
The specific-question tag has no usage guidance.
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Can we reopen the question "Which format is most common for representing a number range in U.S. punctuation style and in British punctuation style?"
I have edited the question Which format is most common for representing a number range in U.S. punctuation style and in British punctuation style? so that it now asks a factual question about whether ...
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Should "Is a comma splice always a mistake?" be reopened as the face of two merged questions (both of which are now closed)?
The question "Is a comma splice always a mistake?" on the main site was merged (on July 3, 2023) with the question "Why is the comma splice an error?" also on the main site, as ...
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Why is my question about the etymology of "foundation" off-topic?
This question of mine got closed as off-topic, in spite of receiving way more upvotes than downvotes and also receiving a detailed answer. Why did it get closed?
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Request to reopen a closed-as-duplicate question: Can you write "... me's" (the possessive)?
Note: The question has now been reopened. I have added further examples of the group genitive to my answer to the question. This should help to distinguish it further from the hyphenated compound ...
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The singular of "the peoples" is "the people". Like in "the essence of a people". Was the question closed after a misunderstanding?
This is about German Singular "Volk" in English: "Das Volk ist mir zum Kotzen" = "The people make me sick" or "The people makes me sick"?.
It was closed, and ...
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How is this question opinion-based?
How is this question opinion-based? ("May I have a mango!" is it an Imperative, Optative or Interrogative sentence?)
There is nothing that seems inherently subjective about it, nor does it ...
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Check to reopen a perhaps wrongly duplicate-closed question on the right indefinite article before a slash phrase (or before a parenthetical phrase)
I have already flagged it to a moderator who asked me to edit the question and ask to reopen it on meta. I ask the seniors here to think about reopening this:
A or an before slash phrase? A or an ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Request to reopen "Resistance decreases with temperature"
"Resistance decreases with temperature". How to interpret this sentence? doesn't seem like an unreasonable question to ask on ELU, but it's been summarily closed with the "justification&...
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Please help me improve my question on 'dishonest mistake' (re the term 'honest mistake')
The question: There's the term 'honest mistake', so what is 'dishonest mistake' synonymous to?
I am not really sure I have anything to say in the body besides the link except that ...
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Is this synonym request truly unanswerable with facts and citations? Does it need to be edited? If so, how?
Term for wavelength-restricted or filtered light having a fairly pure color besides "colored light"? has been closed with the advice to
Update the question so it can be answered with facts ...
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Improper duplicate closure of another prefixes question
Is there a word category for those kind of words?
This question has been redirected to a question about a-adjectives, but the question includes other parts of speech. This has been hastily dismissed ...
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Question closed as duplicate but it wasn't
I asked a question about comma usage: Comma in "If in addition"
The question was closed as a duplicate. The question that my question is a supposedly a duplicate of is about parentheses and ...
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Why was this question about a single word's pronunciation ("whinge") closed as off-topic?
I noticed that How is "whinge" pronounced? was closed as being off-topic.
I once noticed somebody spelled "whine" as "whinge" and thought it was an egregious and ...
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Why is the question off-topic?
I can see that users are voting to close the question Where does Martian meaning inhabitant of Mars come from? as off-topic.
What’s the problem with the above question? or is it just a question of ...
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How can I edit this question and start the reopening process to make additional answers possible?
dog-leg, dogleg, or dog leg? has one well-received and currently accepted answer but was quickly closed for lack of research. It was only my second question here, over three years ago now.
I'd ...
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Voting abuse - why is a perfectly good question being down-voted?
I asked a question on EL&U which was taken upon negatively. It is linked here: “Is "tell advice" not idiomatic over "give advice"?”
Let's look up the definition of "idiomatic" from the OED:
(...
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Is it really true that those who down / up vote and/or close a question do not have to provide any reason why? [duplicate]
I have a question about my English Language & Usage Stack Exchange post: Seeking clarification on the use of “They/Them/Their” as a personal gender pronoun
The title is the total question. I ...
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Please reopen the question about the meaning of 'wong'
I think the following question recently posted by a new user should be reopened:
Why is "wong" a bad word?
The meaning the OP is looking for is not present in any available online ...
- 67.2k
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Inappropriate replacement of question?
Please see this question on dialect and (specifically) its edit history. While I can’t say that I approve of the original question’s choice of example, I think that the “revision&...
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How did this question ever get so much attention?
There is a question of mine that sometimes makes me chuckle. A trivial, very non-urgent question with little to no practical value. A question on why names starting with "J" are more common than words ...
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Is this a translation question?
This question about the phrase no stinkin' way has the translation tag.
Here is the tag description for translation:
Determining English equivalents for words or phrases in other languages (that ...
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Vote to reopen 'gradations of beautiful' question
A question was asked about ranking the strength of the synonyms of 'beautiful'.
It was closed very quickly as 'Primarily Opinion Based'.
I think this is misguided. Questions about nuances of words ...
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Why is my question closed as "unclear"?
What's the correct word to refer to a believer of scientism?
I don't understand what's unclear with this question.
The comment says:
Wait... what is scientism exactly? It sounds like a very ...
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How to change a closure from "proofreading" to "duplicate"?
Ed Chu's question Is “I was having a walk” correct? has been closed (with just one vote plus mod) for supposed "proofreading". I think the proofreading flag was inappropriate here, as the question is ...
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Determiner question
The question below seems to be very simple at first glance and swifty got closed:
Are articles pronouns?
However, the answer is not as clear as it seems at first glance. For those of us well ...
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Improper merger
The recent question about the early usage of optics meaning “point of view” has been improperly merged into an older similar question.
Can you please restore the new original question?
Thanks.
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Please help me improve my babel answer?
I have authored an answer to a SWR. While I believe my suggestion provides a near precise answer to the asked question, it seems to be rather unliked.
I understand the word may be rare, but an ...
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Why was my question downvoted?
I recently asked a question on English Language & Usage, and it was received poorly. Now, I have nothing against criticism, but I just wonder why. Here's the question.
What should I use when ...
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What is wrong with my question and how could I have done it better?
I was reading the meta post on coping with downvotes in which ColleenV made an excellent point about how receiving multiple downvotes warrants a closer look at the post in question.
Earlier today I ...
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Closing on-topic questions as duplicates of questions closed as off-topic
Regarding this question, I believe duping it to a question that was closed as off-topic is a bit disingenuous. I believe there was general consensus the question itself was on-topic. Is this really ...
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Is it offensive to use someone's comment as a basis of another question on its own?
I'm surprised. I did this without any intention to be offensive. Yet I was told I was deeply offensive.
Long story short: @RobbieGoodwin posted an anecdotal comment under my question, saying that he ...
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Re-open request: "Stick vs aerosol" question
A question on "What does "you like stick and I like aerosol" mean?
has been closed as "Primarily Opinion Based".
It's not opinion-based. There is a clear meaning to those who know that deodorant ...
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Please consider reopening my question
My question is closed as off-topic.
First, my question is not so elementary. It is not about the usual use of past perfect as in
When I came up with the idea of climbing all the statues taller than ...
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Is this question still off-topic?
The question What's a word for a 'thing that makes one sleepy'? has attracted a good number of upvotes and a series of interesting answers IMO, but users appear to think that it is still ...
user66974
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On the recently-migrated question "Need help with understanding the sentence"
... which is now on ELL : https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/122505/need-help-with-understanding-the-sentence
After the following comment by the OP:
I personally agree with the second option (...
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Can we change the linked-to question here, folks?
This question here was rightly closed as a duplicate:
Which is grammatically correct: "There is tea and juice" or "There are tea and juice"?
It has currently been linked to the ...
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Could anyone please provide me a feedback on my effort to improve my question?
I have a question about my English Language & Usage Stack Exchange post: When do I use each word? Notes, notices, updates, status, releases, announcements?
I asked this question, and it got ...
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Request for undeletion and reopening of a question on the main site: "Retriable or retryable?"
A poster asked the question Retriable or retryable? on February 9, 2016. It was closed for lack of research on February 15 of that year. On November 9, site participant sumelic edited the question to ...
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Should the following question have a proper answer?
I am re-editing this post hoping to convey the sense of my request:
This recent question has been closed as a duplicate but IMO the issue appears to be still open and needs a more definitive answer....
user66974
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Can we reopen this question please? [Now re-CLOSED]
Edit note 2:
The patient and long-suffering OP has now re-asked aspects of this question in three separate posts. So, there's now probably no harm in leaving this one closed.
This useful question on ...
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Should we migrate this game terminology question here?
Subject question: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/256801/whats-the-difference-between-bug-and-glitch
Should this question be migrated from Arqade to English Language & Usage, ...
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What is wrong with my question?
Is it correct that my question: Idiom request for wasting time or money was put aside as not respectful of the site rules. I have a short experience here but I think it was clear and it actually ...
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Why was my flag declined, and can we close this question?
I flagged this question as unclear, expecting it would be a pretty cut and dry case.
Every answer expresses uncertainty regarding what the asker is asking. There are multiple comments asking for ...
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Why is the question about "the name of a small unluxurious restaurant" so attractive?
What is the name of a small unluxurious restaurant?
42 votes? Nearly 10k views? 20 answers? In only one week? I can't believe it. I even had thought about skipping this question with a thought: "Nah, ...
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Wording of question caused confusion; how to correct it?
I asked this question:
I _____ a work of fiction. (Fill in the blank.)
By "work of fiction", I meant "fictional story", or "fictional narrative", or "product of imagination that relates a series of ...
Jordan