(I am posting these Intros for Donna Richoux while she is away. Maria.)
Last Revised: 2002-09-21 (21 Sep 2002)
This document now contains the Table of Contents of
(a) the AUE FAQ and (b) the FAQ Supplement.
Both can be found by way of links at the AUE Website .
We post these Tables of Contents so that you can get an idea of the broad range of material covered at our website, as well as names of specific topics. Please check here or at the site to see if the topic you want to ask about is listed, and if so, PLEASE read the FAQ entry before posting.
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-- (a) THE AUE FAQ --
A "live" linked version of the following is at AUE's fast-access FAQ,
http://www.alt-usage-english.org/fast_faq.shtml-- Table of Contents of THE ALT.USAGE.ENGLISH FAQ FILE --
by Mark Israel (Email Removed) Last updated: 29 September 1997
Welcome to alt.usage.english! guidelines for posting related newsgroups
recommended books dictionaries online dictionaries general reference grammars books on linguistics books on usage online usage guides online language columns books that discriminate synonyms style manuals books on mathematical exposition books on phrasal verbs books on phrase origins books on Britishisms, Canadianisms, etc. books on "bias-free"/"politically correct" language books on group names books on rhyming slang
artificial dialects Basic English E-prime
pronunciation how to represent pronunciation in ASCII rhotic vs non-rhotic, intrusive "r" How do Americans pronounce "dog"? words pronounced differently according to context words whose spelling has influenced their pronunciation
usage disputes "acronym" "all ... not" "alot" "alright" "between you and I" "company is" vs "company are" "could care less" "could of" "different to", "different than" "done"="finished" double "is" "due to" "functionality" gender-neutral pronouns "God rest you merry, gentlemen" "hopefully", "thankfully" "if I was" vs "if I were" "impact"="to affect" "It needs cleaned" "It's me" vs "it is I" "less" vs "fewer" "like" vs "as" "like" vs "such as" "more/most/very unique" "mouses" vs "mice" "near miss" "none is" vs "none are" plurals plurals of Latin and Greek words plurals => English singulars preposition at end "quality" repeated words after abbreviations "Scotch" "shall" vs "will", "would" vs "should" split infinitive "that" vs "which" "that kind of a thing" the the hoi polloi debate "true fact" "try and", "be sure and", "go" + verb "whom" "you saying" vs "your saying"
punctuation "." after abbreviations spaces between sentences ," vs ", "A, B and C" vs "A, B, and C"
foreigners' FAQs "a"/"an" before abbreviations "A number of..." when to use "the" subjunctive
word origins "A.D." "alumin(i)um" "bloody" "bug"="defect" "Caesarean section" "canola" "catch-22" "cop" "copacetic" "crap" "ebonics" "eighty-six"="nix" "Eskimo" "flammable" "freeway" "fuck" "golf" "hooker" "ISO" "jerry-built"/"jury-rigged" "kangaroo" "limerence" "loo" "love"="zero" "merkin" "nimrod" "O.K." "outrage" "paparazzo" "pie-shaped" "portmanteau word" "posh" "quiz" "Santa Ana" "scot-free" "sincere" "sirloin"/"baron of beef" "SOS" "spoonerism" "suck"="be very unsatisfying" "till"/"until" "tip" "titsling"/"brassiere" "troll" "typo" "Wicca" "widget" "wog" "wonk" "wop" "ye"="the"
phrase origins "the bee's knees" "beg the question" "billions and billions" "blue moon" "Bob's your uncle" "break a leg" "to call a spade a spade" "cut the mustard" "cut to the chase" "The die is cast" "dressed to the nines" "Elementary, my dear Watson!" "Enquiring minds want to know" "The exception proves the rule" "face the music" "fall off a turnip truck" "full monty" "Get the lead out" "Go figure" "Go placidly amid the noise and the haste" (Desiderata) "go to hell in a handbasket" "hell for leather" "hoist with his own petard" "by hook or by crook" "Illegitimis non carborundum" "in like Flynn" "Jingle Bells" "Let them eat cake" "mind your p's and q's" "more honoured in the breach than the observance" "more than you can shake a stick at" "ollie ollie oxen free" "peter out" "politically correct" "push the envelope" "put in one's two cents' worth" "rule of thumb" "shouting fire in a crowded theater" "son of a gun" "spitting image"/"spit and image" "There's a sucker born every minute" "to all intents and purposes" "wait for the other shoe to drop" "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" "whole cloth" "the whole nine yards" "You have another think coming"
words frequently sought words ending in "-gry" words without vowels list of language terms "I won't mention..." names of "&", "@", and "#" "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." "Take the prisoner downstairs", said Tom condescendingly. What is the opposite of "to exceed"? What is the opposite of "distaff side"? grass strip between road and sidewalk
miscellany What is a suggested format for citing online sources? Does the next millennium begin in 2000 or 2001? What will we call the next decade? Fumblerules ("Don't use no double negatives", etc.) English is Tough Stuff What is the phone number of the Grammar Hotline? deliberate mistakes in dictionaries How reliable are dictionaries? etymologies of personal names How did "Truly" become a personal name? trademarks commonest words Why do we say "30 years old" but "a 30-year-old man"? What words are their own antonym? sentences grammatical in both Old English and Modern English radio alphabets distribution of English-speakers provenance of English vocabulary "billion": a U.K. view Biblical sense of "to know" postfix "not" origin of the dollar sign
spelling spelling reform joke about step-by-step spelling reform What is "ghoti"? I before E except after C How do you spell "e-mail"? Why is "I" capitalized? diacritics "-er" vs "-re" "-ize" vs "-ise" doubling of final consonants before suffixes possessive apostrophes
End AUE FAQ section
-- (b) THE FAQ SUPPLEMENT --
Following is the table of contents of the AUE FAQ Supplement:
books
Dictionaries Grammar Books about words
pronunciation