Whats the difference between “bucket” and “pail”? Pail is completely synonymous with bucket, except in phrases such as diner pail, slop pail, oyster pail, kick the bucket, bucket brigade, bucket seat, bucket hat, etc
What is the origin of the phrase beyond the pale? Pale in this idiom comes from Latin pālus 'stake'; it means a fencepost, and by ordinary extension it also means the fence itselt, and the area it contains or delimits So beyond the pale just means "outside the boundaries" Normally, of course, the "boundaries" are metaphors for human activities, rather than referring to a physically bounded location
idioms - What is the origin of pale, male and stale? - English . . . The combination of words seems to have originated as part of a spoof advertising slogan in the 50s It seems quite plausible (but obviously not certain) that this is the origin of the modern usage It could, of course, have evolved multiple times From "The Connoisseur's Guide to Beer" by James Donald Robertson (1984): This brand first appeared in 1954 when radio KDKA disc jockey Rege Cordic
What is the origin of Robbing Peter to pay Paul? The origin comes from the Peter tax and the Paul tax: The expression refers to times before the Reformation when Church taxes had to be paid to St Paul's church in London and to St Peter's church in Rome; originally it referred to neglecting the Peter tax in order to have money to pay the Paul tax The Peter tax referred to the tax that people had to pay to fund the building of St Peter's
If my boat is sinking should I bale or bail the water out? From various literary examples it appears that I should manually 'bail' out the water to keep afloat but the automated water removal system in my vessel is a 'baling pump' While there is this, I
Gender neutral noun for brotherhood sisterhood? [duplicate] Why don't we consider as standard 'John has sadly kicked the pail', 'a boat of the desert', 'Sibling Francis', 'personhunt', 'The Glasgow Kinship of (or similar)', References on ELU should show that usages are standardly used, not that there is an argument that they ought to be in someone's opinion
prefixes - When is the prefix non- used vs un-? - English Language . . . "Un-" is defined as "a prefix meaning 'not,' freely used as an English formative, giving negative or opposite force in adjectives and their derivative adverbs and nouns and less freely used in certain other nouns " "Non-" is defined as "a prefix meaning 'not,' freely used as an English formative, usually with a simple negative force as implying mere negation or absence of something (rather
Lunch vs. dinner vs. supper — times and meanings? There's actually quite a bit of variation in different regions of the US As I said, it's quite common to hear Dinner as the noontime meal in many areas of the American South I've noticed that there's even a split in Texas where some regions use Lunch Dinner and others use Dinner Supper These differences have tended to mix up and get confused as people from different regions have mixed, and