These are the things that bother me...
So, Michael Sembello, I understand that she is, in fact, a maniac at my door. Also that she's dancing like she's never danced before. But what I want to know is, is she dancing in a manner in which she has never danced before, or is she dancing as though she has never danced before?
This really, sincerely bothers me.
I am reminded of the time my mother and I spent an entire dinner trying to decide if "grits" should take a singular or plural verb. (I contend that grits is clearly a mass, uncountable noun, along the lines of water and sand. She replies that "grits is" is offensive enough to the ear that the plural form of the word should be respected. That also bothers me to this day).
I never claimed not to be deeply weird.
Have any of you ever heard the phrase "all mouth and no trousers"? It gets about 10k Google hits. I had never heard it before, but it may be my new favorite Wacky Britishism. I'm going to be trying to work this into conversation now. But you know what really makes it hilarious? the context.
One worry is that China’s rulers will try to push the yuan down to help exporters. That would be a terrible idea, not least because the government has the resources to ease the pain in less dangerous ways: it is running a budget surplus and has little debt. Last month it announced a huge 4 trillion yuan (nearly $600 billion) fiscal-stimulus package. Some who have crunched the numbers argue that this was all mouth and no trousers-much of it made up by old budget commitments, double-counting and empty promises. It was thus mainly propaganda...
*facepalm* The diction-level incongruity there strikes me as hilarious. I cannot stop snickering.
This really, sincerely bothers me.
I am reminded of the time my mother and I spent an entire dinner trying to decide if "grits" should take a singular or plural verb. (I contend that grits is clearly a mass, uncountable noun, along the lines of water and sand. She replies that "grits is" is offensive enough to the ear that the plural form of the word should be respected. That also bothers me to this day).
I never claimed not to be deeply weird.
Have any of you ever heard the phrase "all mouth and no trousers"? It gets about 10k Google hits. I had never heard it before, but it may be my new favorite Wacky Britishism. I'm going to be trying to work this into conversation now. But you know what really makes it hilarious? the context.
One worry is that China’s rulers will try to push the yuan down to help exporters. That would be a terrible idea, not least because the government has the resources to ease the pain in less dangerous ways: it is running a budget surplus and has little debt. Last month it announced a huge 4 trillion yuan (nearly $600 billion) fiscal-stimulus package. Some who have crunched the numbers argue that this was all mouth and no trousers-much of it made up by old budget commitments, double-counting and empty promises. It was thus mainly propaganda...
*facepalm* The diction-level incongruity there strikes me as hilarious. I cannot stop snickering.