I came cross this couple of times this week. It looks like a fixed phrase but I couldn't find it in my dictionaries. What does it mean? I suspect you meant "Can I pick them, or what?" That's a phrase in actual use, and the one

brunette n., a woman with dark brown hair adj., ... BROWN) I've never heard of black hair being called brunette. Query whether "black" hair is not actually dark brown. Since the French presumably gave us "blonde" and

Why? It's perfectly fine if "use" has "the woman's leg-shaver thing" as its object (the natural way to read it). No it's not. The natural way to read it is with an elided "that" after "thing",

Edward writes Does the sentence "I received a Dear John ... in Leftpondia that it does over here? Particularly to servicemen? Yes. I can't think of a term that describes a letter blowing off a girlfriend, though. A "Dear Jane"

Does the sentence "I received a Dear John letter today" have the same meaning in Leftpondia that it does over here? Particularly to servicemen? Yes. I can't think of a term that describes a letter blowing off a girlfriend, though. A

Well, he tried to (by mail order) and ended up with Boukephalos Not a spelling I am used to, but a great pun. m. I enjoyed this one I read last night: To be honest he didn't know what epilepsy was but suspected Pat was not referring to the

The inimitable "sage" (Email Removed) stated one day Recently spotted: "And it's a little bit diffcult, if you're in the hospital, to concertize!" (Quote by Midori violinist ... can be concertize. By the way, she was a

In the US Google has mutated into a verb. Singletons will "google" a new boyfriend or girlfriend - run their ... shown on Channel 4 in the UK this week, colleagues of Dr Susan Lewis talked of "googling" her blind date. Last

Google calls in the 'language police' By Jonathan Duffy BBC News Online Google is now a verb, meaning to search. It sounds like the ultimate compliment to the company, so why do its lawyers want to keep the word out of our dictionaries?

The inimitable Charles Riggs (Email Removed) stated one day California is out, then, but that still leaves Cedar Rapids, Sag Harbor, Bar Harbor and Orono in Maine, Leesburg, Annapolis, ... there are some other towns and cities I didn't