Whats the origin of the word geezer? - English Language Usage . . . "Geezer" actually means an odd or eccentric man This word came from guise, which was: (in Scotland and N England) the practice or custom of disguising oneself in fancy dress, often with a mask, and visiting people's houses, esp at Halloween The above is the origin of guiser Thus, it was used in slang to describe someone as odd, and it was pronounced "geezer" due to as you said, the Cockney
meaning - I heard geezer (?) on Rumpole of the Bailey - English . . . In UK slang geezer (or geeza) can just mean a man, regardless of age, like 'chap' or 'bloke' In the context of Rumpole of the Bailey, I'm guessing she's saying that he "locked her man up" (put her husband partner boyfriend in jail)
Whats the origin of the phrase cruising for bruising? -1 It was also used in the song "Money" from Pink Floyd's 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" During the fade out, a woman in the voiceover can be heard saying, "That geezer was cruisin' for a bruisin'"
greetings - Whats an appropriate response to a British person asking . . . You are correct, there are two meanings which you mention The first one has a couple of possible responses: 1 - yes, yeah or something else short and semi-positive 2 - a response of 'alright' itself can be appropriate for passing, which means "yes, thank you, and yourself?' That could just be a Northern thing though For the barman waitress service person, you can either keep things short as
Do you use a or an before acronyms initialisms? The important point to remember is the following: Written language is a representation of the spoken word Thus, the answer is "If the word following the indefinite article begins with a vowel sound, use an; if it begins with a consonant sound, use a " In the case of initialisms and acronymns, use the exact rule above For initialisms (e g "US"), the individual letters are pronounced With
When should ‘state’ be capitalised? - English Language Usage . . . There are no special rules for capitalizing the word "state" in ordinary, non-technical English It should be capitalized when at the start of a sentence, or when it is part of a proper noun The state (3) of affairs is that the State of Washington (proper noun) is a state (2) within the sovereign state (1) known as The United States of America (proper noun)
Is it grammatical to say My favorite food is apples? Yes, "the apple" works well But personally I see little wrong with "My favourite food is apple" - though beyond linguistics I must say it seems an odd sort of remark to make To begin with, what exactly do we mean by "favourite food"? "My favourite fruit is apple the apple" makes a lot more sense But how, philosophically, can we draw a comparison between, let's say, apple, pâté de campagne