Where does doofus (or perhaps dufus) come from? Doofus doesn't appear in Partridge's [abridged] Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1989), suggesting that the word originated in the United States This book does have an entry for doof, but it is identified as a Northumberland teenager term meaning to strike or punch
What does the word “doofosity” mean? - English Language Usage . . . A fool; idiot; airhead, birdbrain, boob: He'll do his best to make you feel like a doofus But this is the doofus you have to deal with, so hush up I have to be in front of this self-important doofis with his portable phone I felt like such a dufus when some big, loud, popcorn-chuggin' doof and his date sit in front of me
Reason for different pronunciations of lieutenant It's simply an attempt for English speakers to pronunce French phonemes, I don't believe there's an additional reason The word appeared in English as "lieutenant", and an alternative "leftenant" was made to stick to the pronunciation The pronunciation being very difficult for English speaker The "lefttenant" doesn't exist in French, at least, I didn't find it, I will search further
Etymology of the word sin - English Language Usage Stack Exchange Such a division doesn't make sense The "i" in that "ig" element was part of *sundijō (sin) and the "g" of the element was part of the suffix *-gō A list of derivatives that includes a word in a foreign language that is known to have cognates in other languages that certainly can't have had it borrowed automatically disqualifies the list Derivatives are within one language, not across
Should you use “it” or “they” when referencing a group of people? Human beings are never referred to as it Sometimes you get groups of human beings, like when you have a team or a posse or a council or a fraternity or even a silent majority Those are all still people, and are normally referred back to using they even in those cases when the original antecedent is treated as a singular for verb agreement
Why is bombshell used to describe attractive women? Bombshell is a term used to describe very attractive women, similar to the term "sex symbol" The phrase was notably used as the title of a 1930's film, which incidentally led to its lead actress b
Best reply to Have a nice weekend? - English Language Usage Stack . . . What do you do if they sent a substantive email and then signed off with "Have a great weekend!" and, in your response, you need to address one of those substantive points and then sign off? In that case, how do you refer back to the whole weekend discussion in a natural way?