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What is the origin of “long long i” before voiced consonants (the [ai] of wide , while , & tribe ) versus “short long i” before unvoiced consonants (the [ʌi] of white , wife , & wipe )? When did this difference appear? Is it just a secondary distinction, or are there minimal pairs for these two diphthongs? Obviously the distinction is not present in all accents—though its presence in most leads me to believe it's not a late arrival—and yet I've never found a dictionary that distinguishes them. Answer I believe this is called Canadian Raising . Canadian raising is a phonetic phenomenon that occurs in varieties of the English language, especially Canadian English, in which certain diphthongs are "raised" before voiceless consonants (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, /f/). /aɪ/ (the vowel of "eye") becomes [ʌɪ] or [ɐɪ] , while the outcome of /aʊ/ (the vowel of "loud") varies by dialect, with [ʌu] more common in the west and a fronted variant [ɛʉ] c...

"Night, folks; I'm off to kip ." noun 1 British a sleep or nap:        I might have a little kip [ mass noun ] :        he was trying to get some kip verb (kips, kipping, kipped) [no object] British     sleep:           he can kip on her sofa Oxford Dictionaries has it as: mid 18th century (in the sense 'brothel'): perhaps related to Danish kippe 'hovel, tavern' Any further etymological info? Answer There is some more detail on World Wide Words . The Irish usage as brothel is first recorded in Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield : ... to assist at tattering a kip as the phrase was, when we had a mind for a frolic. The phrase tattering a kip meaning "wrecking a brothel". The word then came to be used for lodging-houses and finally to refer to the act of sleeping itself. In Partridge's Dictionary of Common Slang there's also mention of Danish kippe and a possible link to Romany kipsi 'a basket' and kitchema 'an in...

I had never (before today) heard this phrase. I attempted to Google it, but only found examples of its use , not much different from my first experience . (I also tried two idiom dictionaries, but chain of Chinese whispers did not even present there.) What does it mean and where should I have looked to find it? Answer Chinese whispers is another name for the game also known as telephone, grapevine, or whisper down the lane. In this game, each person whispers a phrase to the next person in line. The phrase is usually unrecognizable by the time it reaches the end of the line. "A chain of Chinese whispers" appears to be used for the analogous real-life process where a rumour gets totally distorted while being passed along.

I don't know of any nouns that describes a person who thrives under pressure. In basketball and sports in general, I know people who do well under pressure are called clutch. However, clutch would be an adjective. Are there any nouns that fit this description? If there are no nouns, what other adjectives have this meaning.

I'm looking for a way to describe someone who thinks everyone is incompetent (that is, doesn't know anything) and always has to explain every minute (small) detail because his perception of the person's competence is that it's very low (thinking the person is not that smart). If this person were here, he'd probably end this post with... P.S. To answer the question go to the bottom of the page, type in the answer, and then hit submit. I should be able to see it relatively quickly. How would you describe somebody like that? Answer The compulsive need to exolain everything in the minutest detail is contained in the rhetorical term Epexegesis epexegesis (ɛˌpɛksɪˈdʒi:sɪs) (Collins) (plural) -ses (-,si:z) (rhetoric) the addition of a phrase, clause, or sentence to a text to provide further explanation the phrase, clause, or sentence added for this purpose Example : ' his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs ...

I've been looking at conditional sentences (conditional clauses). Every example I've see is along the lines of, "if [x] then [y]." I've seen alternatives/substitutes for the if part: were I you (instead of "if I were you") on condition that unless were Yet, these still follow the same pattern: "condition [x] then [y]." Is that the only way to have a conditional? Is it not possible to invert/switch around the structure? Would it still be a conditional clause (or conditional sentence) if I put the condition after the occurance? If he eats that, he'll be sick. He'll be sick if he eats that. Unless you win this round, you are out. You are out unless you win this round. If those are not conditionals, what are they? Would they be considered as "acceptable" if I were to be editing/rewriting something, or would it be seen as bad/improper/incorrect/having a sufficiently different implication?

Substitute teacher is an adjective and a noun, where substitute is an adjective as defined in the dictionary. However, what about replacement teacher ? Replacement is defined as a noun in the dictionary. Does that make replacement teacher a compound noun or is replacement in this situation an adjective nevertheless?