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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>I know this is the right place to post this question! "Hurry up and answer", Tom thought Swiftly. That's right, it's a Tom Swifty. a google search on this will turn up 100s of hits and I encourage the effort as these can entertain for... as long as it takes. for the googley impaired, here are a couple of links and a couple more examples: http://www.mneta.org/~WMjglenn/SIMMSTomSwifties.htmlhttp://www.floaty.com/~jonathan/library/jonathan/swiftiesLet's go dig up some bodies, Tom said gravely. I've struck oil, Tom said crudely. Your hair is a complete mess, Tom teased. I couldn't believe there were exactly 100 people there, Tom recounted.
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Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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a versus an. The answer is simple. If you pronounce the h, use a, if you don't pronounce it use an. I remember reading somewhere (Fowler maybe?) that the h in historic didn't use to be pronounced by the "educated" but was pronounced by the "uneducated", and that's why the myth grew up that it should be an historic regardless of the fact that the "educated" pronunciation had changed.
Bingley
Bingley
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stranger
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stranger
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Given the news concerning the various chemical sprays, perhaps an apple is neither healthy nor healthful. The question may be more technical than semantic.
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old hand
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old hand
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The sprays are applied to keep the apple healthy. Their effects on the consumer of the fruit have to be "within the limits of tolerance".
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Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Which is why the only person left saying "an historic" is the queen (and even she looks a little uncomfortable with it).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>"Hurry up and answer", Tom thought Swiftly. That's right, it's a Tom Swifty. a google search on this will turn up 100s of hits and I encourage the effort as these can entertain for... as long as it takes.<< Tsuwm, you are really sharp, she said pointedly.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
Writerly1-- Whoa, your very first post! I hope, based on your name, that we'll be seeing a whole lot more from you.
(hint, hint, to all you FORMERLY posting people who seem to have vanished!)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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>>The sprays are applied to keep the apple healthy. Their effects on the consumer of the fruit have to be "within the limits of tolerance".<<
Dr. Sieber,
If Writerly1 is from the U.S., that might explain the concern. We had a nationwide scare about this a few years ago. (Overblown by the media, in my opinion.)
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 18 |
"Thank you for your delicious help, tsuwm," jackiemw replied tastefully. (Okay, so I don't have the hang of it yet, best I could come up with off the top of my head.) An honest-to-goodness thank you, though.
To others who replied, thanks for your posts. I should have made this a new topic, I guess, to avoid confusion. The healthy/healthful trivia question was answered a while ago. (Healthy relates to people; healthful to things.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Why is there such a tendancy to make a new longer word when a perfectly acceptable short word will do the job?
For the same reason as leads to finding such hitherto unknown distinctions as healthful v. healthy. TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN OTHER PEOPLE
Bingley
Bingley
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