Hello again. Sorry for the delay. I was distracted by a horrendously written online encyclopedia. But, anyway . . . "This guy is a burglar! A wrong 'un in pants in the heart of Brazil." Wrong 'un means a person of bad character

Thanks for replying but I don't think I've asked the question clearly, partly due to my lack vocabulary. It's actually a word I'm looking for. For example, " I'm sorry but I don't expect you to understand as this is

I went there for the purpose of (gerund) I went there (infinitive) I think it's archaic, but it persists as a regional colloquialism and, as you note, in folk poetry: Simple Simon went a-fishin' For to catch a whale. But all the water that

Sorry Uthman! Thanks, Yankee! Could you say a word or two about "collocation" as used here? I'm not happy with my definition, and usually think of it as synonymous with "colloquialism," except that I take the latter as

A bit late. Sorry. Sean O'Leathlobhair wrote on 14 Jul 2004: It's quite common in the lower registers of AmE. It ... confirm that "stolen on me" is common enough in left-pondia. I have a sense that 'x on me' is not

A bit late. Sorry. Sean O'Leathlobhair wrote on 14 Jul 2004: I have never heard a native say: "I can't drive ... that is because of the "on me" at the end. It's quite common in the lower registers of AmE. It may not be

Donna, are you claiming that there are people who say ... I'm not aware of ever hearing any examples of this. Yes. For example, the first four hits in Google Groups (a better place for colloquialisms than the Web) under "I could give a

Sorry, Jacques, all this tells me is that you're still annoyed at someone back in the thread. I can't work out your meaning... Annoyed? Annoyed? Oh dear, you do have a way with understatements, haven't you? I am not annoyed, Ma'am,