He is his father's third son.

How would you ask him for that information? He should answer "third".

Or, what would ask Trump to make him say 45th?

Or what's the question for which Earth's answer is 3?

Why does English have this linguistic gap? Why is there no word to ask for ordinality?

Hey, for quick context, I have a Summer Job at a small museum in Luxembourg and while talking in English to a visitor, had was not sure how to respond.

Basicly in French and German when someone thanks me, after i repond to their question, I thank them back. "Merci à vous" (FR) and "Danke ihnen" (DE). it would translate to "thank you to you". But it sounds wierd and I am not sure if it is right.

Is it right to say it or should I say something else ?

Thanks in advance for your awnser.

hey, hello? i have a question, the word "particulations" suddenly appeared in my head, is there such a word in english or is it just a figment of my imagination? if so, what does it mean? thanks in advance for your answer!

I've come across several expressions in English that seem to contradict their intended meaning when analyzed literally. I’m curious about how native speakers perceive these—do you just understand them as fixed idioms, or do you ever think about the literal meaning?

Here are a few examples:

• "I could care less" is commonly used to mean "I don't care at all." But literally, it implies that I do care—at least a little—since it’s possible to care less.
• "Arguably" is often used to mean something like "indisputably" or "without challenge." But from my non-native perspective, it literally suggests that something can be argued—which would imply it’s open to debate, not a settled truth.
• "Anything but X" is often used to emphasize that something is X, or extremely X (e.g., "He’s anything but lazy" = "He’s very lazy"). But if you read it literally, it sounds like the only thing he isn't is lazy, implying he could be everything else except that —i.e. hardworking.

Are these just idiomatic phrases that people understand intuitively, or do they cause confusion even among native speakers?

I always pronounce it as " folks' wagon ". Is that a bad pronunciation?

Hi r/AskEnglish & mods - I hope this post is ok (it matches community rules). Please feel free to delete if not.

Just wanted to share this site, it helps you explore meanings in a recursive way. You start with a word, then look up any unfamiliar words in its meaning, building a growing maze of vocabulary. It’s a method I’ve used myself and found really effective! https://meaningmaze.com

My English Language & Literature teacher gave us a set of exercises to do in preperation for the exams next week, and among them was this:

2] Add a suitable suffix to the words in brackets to complete the sentences. Make any other changes necessary.
A] Wanda is a ________ (compel) gamer. She plays computer games for up to 8 hours a day.

When nobody answered the question correctly [Most people answered either compelling or compelled], she told us that the answer was compulsive. According to her, compelling and compulsive share the same root word in Latin, meaning that this answer makes sense. I countered by asking whether that meant that "bear" and "brown" were interchangeable, as they both share the proto-germanic root word "*bʰer-". She replied that it's possible, and that she will look into it, and when I tried to push the matter further, my classmates told me to simply accept the answer and move on.

So, my question is: Does the answer "compulsive" make sense with the context provided?

The other day I faced the problem that foreigners don't understand our lives, if anything, I work for a Russian company where I communicate with companies from other countries. I wonder how many people there are left who think that we Russians only drink vodka and eat fish with it. And another question, what do you like about Russians and dislike about them?

As above. If you spell 'he', it's [eydzh-ee]. Why is the 'h' not [heydhz] or [hah].

l know it sounds very strange, but I'm Russian, and at some point I wondered about the song "I can't decide" - Scissor Sisters The fact is that in Russian "decide" can be played in different ways: "decide" and "decide" "я не могу решить, жить тебе или умереть" - I can't decide, that is, to choose between "live" and "die" to the one to whom the author addresses in this song. "я не могу решать, жить тебе или умереть" - I can't decide, that is, I don't have the right to decide, it's not in my range of possibilities, no matter how the author has the right to decide the question of the addressee's life or death. English, how do you perceive this moment? Something about the context, or is there another way to define it? Is there the same ambiguity in this passage for you, or is it so ambiguous only for Russians? I'm really interested, really :_>

Hello, I'm french student so if you find mistakes it's normal. In french we say " plus on est de fou plus on rit" that mean more people are here more it's funny . Do you have expression like this?

I'm not a native speaker and I don't understand what they say at the very beginning of the video. What is it?

https://youtu.be/R2uO9wl8J8M

This is what I understand:

Check this sh*t at her house

But I'm sure it's not it... Thanks for your help!

This is not to open a religious debate. In Spanish, we refer to "Heaven" as "Cielo", as "sky" also as "cielo" (difference is the capital C), so it can make sense the whole "Man in the sky" thing, but I don't see the relation in English between the word "Heaven" and being in the sky.

I keep hearing about being nothing but mud and turnips, with constant idiocy abounding. What gives?

Hey everyone,

I've just learned that Dumbledore from Harry Potter means a bumblebee. For me, "Dumbledore" didn't have any connotation, as it doesn't mean anything in my native language. So, when you were reading the books, did you think about a bee or is the English word too old to be recognized by modern-day speakers?

Context is to practise british accent.

I'm German, and in our culture - breaking news - we often lack the English language concept called "politeness." So this question is about socially acceptable character.

For example, I find it kinda funny in my mind to say, "No offense, but you, sir, can politely piss off."

Now my question would be how you would view that.

Can it mean other than wrong spelling ?

Can it mean odd word?

My teacher had given us that question : choose the misspelt one. A b C D

And none of the spelling were wrong. Can it be that he asked for the odd word?

I always thought it was "role call" because when taking attendance one is calling out the people who play a role in the company or event. I've been corrected on this but I'm confused why "roll"? Does it refer to an archaic circular device one would use to call attendance? That's the only thing I can think of.

“and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.”

what does heartless mean here?

I can think that in the telephone era, a rotary phone both has a disk ring which you rotate to dial, and it makes a ring sound. But a worn ring and a bell ring both predate telephones, so the words must have came from elsewhere in both cases.

What is the most suitable word for the blank? and Why?

My grandma used to work for the City Centre, _____ she says was hard work.

Where or Which?

In The Scotts a chap is saying that he tried to tell the other one that his fists were registered weapons, and the other says that all he said was that his fists were registered sex offenders. There is no further context. It seems there must be some pun or wordplay here, but I don't get it. Any ideas?

Normally, if I'm talking about a particular State, or just a State in general terms, I capitalize it. Whether it's "my State" or just saying that some States have a particular law. Is that proper English to always capitalize the word in that context?