English Questions

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
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luke
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Re: English Questions

Postby luke » Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:03 pm

Le Baron wrote:Is it really 'bits' the hotdog? Or 'hits' the hotdog?

I'm thinking 'bites'.
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Re: English Questions

Postby BeaP » Thu Nov 10, 2022 8:04 pm

luke wrote:2. Mustard is a common condiment on a hot dog. Dogs bark, so they are playing with that idea.

So a small part of the machine they were working on failed (the mustard) and it created a big problem (all the dogs began to bark).
I think the mustard 'hits' the hot dog. Can it be a kind of wordplay with 2 meanings of bark? The 2nd being the chewy part on the outside of the meat. In this case it would have a different meaning that might be positive.
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Re: English Questions

Postby allf100 » Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:37 am

Hello,

Would someone please help me out with the questions(Q) as below? The contexts are from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Thank you very much!

"I never did see the beat of that boy!"

Q1: beat = area the boy usually goes around?
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam—that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."

Q2: What does 'truck' mean here? Does 'truck' refer to 'stuff'? I've looked it up on an English dictionary, but I don't find a suitable entry for this.

Why did Tom's Aunt call 'jam' as 'truck'? Why did She stress "IS"?

"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time?

Q3: Hang the boy = a curse?I assume the usage is outdated, corrected?

I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws–a–me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow.

Well–a–well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so.

Q4: laws-a-me =?
Q5: Does the following sentence means 'human lives are short, but we have to experience all the difficulties'?

man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble

"Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."

Q6: Yes'm' = Yes, madam?
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Re: English Questions

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:04 am

allf100 wrote:Hello,

Would someone please help me out with the questions(Q) as below? The contexts are from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Thank you very much!

"I never did see the beat of that boy!"

Q1: beat = area the boy usually goes around?
No. This is beat as in "never seen him beaten/defeated" or "never seen anyone able to beat/best/defeat him", anyone more resourceful/shameless.
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam—that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."

Q2: What does 'truck' mean here? Does 'truck' refer to 'stuff'? I've looked it up on an English dictionary, but I don't find a suitable entry for this.
Why did Tom's Aunt call 'jam' as 'truck'? Why did She stress "IS"?
I had to look this up, there is a meaning of "rubbish" and "small items of little value" either of those would work, but I wouldn't ever use it myself, so perhaps an archaic or regional use.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... lish/truck
No special reason for stressing "is", she's asking herself a question, picture her staring closely at an unidentified mark as she says it.
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time?

Q3: Hang the boy = a curse?I assume the usage is outdated, corrected?
Yes.
15. (past tense and past participle hanged) slang
to damn or be damned: used in mild curses or interjections
I'll be hanged before I'll go out in that storm
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... glish/hang

I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws–a–me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow.

Well–a–well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so.

Q4: laws-a-me =?

https://www.definitions.net/definition/ ... 0laws-a-me
It's just an expression of exasperation, "gosh" or "goodness me" would fit too.
Q5: Does the following sentence means 'human lives are short, but we have to experience all the difficulties'?[/color]
man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble
Yes.
"Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."

Q6: Yes'm' = Yes, madam?
Yes.
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Re: English Questions

Postby allf100 » Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:53 am

Hello DaveAgain,

Thank you so much for your help again. :) :) I regret that I hadn't done well my job before posting my questions. I'll use Collin Dictionary from now on.
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Re: English Questions

Postby Mista » Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:34 pm

DaveAgain wrote:
allf100 wrote:
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam—that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."

Q2: What does 'truck' mean here? Does 'truck' refer to 'stuff'? I've looked it up on an English dictionary, but I don't find a suitable entry for this.
Why did Tom's Aunt call 'jam' as 'truck'? Why did She stress "IS"?
I had to look this up, there is a meaning of "rubbish" and "small items of little value" either of those would work, but I wouldn't ever use it myself, so perhaps an archaic or regional use.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... lish/truck

If this is from Tom Sawyer, the setting is the Mississippi area in the early 19th century, in other words, an area which had been French within the last 50 years or so. It seems likely, therefore, that the usage is archaic AND regional, and that its origin is the French word "truc" which means "thing".
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Re: English Questions

Postby allf100 » Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:12 pm

Hello Mista, thank you very much for your help. :)
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Re: English Questions

Postby allf100 » Sat Dec 03, 2022 1:58 pm

Hello,
Re: medicine vs. medication

Would someone please tell me/illustrate the difference between 'medicine' and 'medication' in the sentence I underline?
Would 'medication' sound psychologically better to a patient than 'medicine'?
e.g. I'm going to write out a prescription of some medication /medicine?

Here's my assumption based on the info that I searched from the Internet, but I still don't really understand.

The word 'medication' includes not only medicine but also other non-drug treatment, such as physical exercises, nutrition, etc. Is this correct?

Thank you!

P.S. I've looked up Collin Dictionary which defines 'the one of synonyms for medication is medicine. Some definitions make me confused.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... medication
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Re: English Questions

Postby DaveAgain » Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:27 pm

allf100 wrote:Hello,
Re: medicine vs. medication

[color=#0000BF]Would someone please tell me/illustrate the difference between 'medicine' and 'medication' in the sentence I underline?
Would 'medication' sound psychologically better to a patient than 'medicine'?
e.g. I'm going to write out a prescription of some medication /medicine?

Here's my assumption based on the info that I searched from the Internet, but I still don't really understand.

The word 'medication' includes not only medicine but also other non-drug treatment, such as physical exercises, nutrition, etc. Is this correct?

No. Medication would typically refer to a physical thing, drug of some sort, but medicine can be a broader term.

Medicine can also refer to the medical field more generally. A medical student, could be described as studying medicine. Or as you suggest you might sometimes use medicine to embrace non-drug treatments, e.g. the best medicine for you is exercise!

In your sentence medication/medicine refers to a drug of some kind, whether pill, liquid or powder. A doctor's prescription would be taken to a chemist/pharmacy to be exchanged for the drug.
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Re: English Questions

Postby Kraut » Sat Dec 03, 2022 7:57 pm

Doctor says: " Take this pill twice a day with a glass of beer."

The pill is the "medicine" in itself, "twice a day" plus "a glass of beer" that go with the medicine is the "medication".

Mit Medikation bezeichnet man die Auswahl des Arzneimittels sowie seine Darreichungsform ( z.B. Tablette, Salbe oder Injektion), Dosierung, Anwendungsdauer und den Zeitpunkt der Einnahme. Bei einer ärztlichen Verordnung eines Arzneimittels trägt die Ärztin/der Arzt die Medikation in das Rezept ein.
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Medication refers to the selection of the medicinal product as well as its dosage form (e.g. tablet, ointment or injection), dosage, duration of use and the time of administration. When a medicine is prescribed by a doctor, the doctor enters the medication in the prescription.
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