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- Are names of chemicals not proper nouns? - English Language Usage . . .
Product names which are derived after an inventor's name will often remain capitalized, though not always (e g the petroleum distillate used to power trucks and locomotives is called "diesel" rather than "Diesel" even though it's named after the inventor of the four-stroke compression-ignition engine for which that fuel was formulated)
- Throttle is to slow down, but full throttle is max speed?
Originally, throttle meant throat So "full-throttle" for a motorized vehicle is like a lion's full-throated roar - the throttle throat is opened as wide as possible (for maximum throughput of fuel or air) It's just that the verb to throttle came to have the meaning choke (fatally cut off someone's air by squeezing their throat), which led to "throttling back" meaning "reduce the fuel supply
- If it works, it works - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
I suppose a more realistic example is the development of powered pumps, locomotives etc Newcomen's atmospheric engine did a vital job, but was bettered by Watt's improvements Trevithick's locomotive of 1804 hauled a load, but modern diesel engines work far more efficiently and reliably I'm not sure this is really an English language question
- Origin of the phrase Now were cooking with
The original is "Now You're Cooking With Gas", supposedly part of an ad campaign from the era when gas stoves first started replacing wood stoves for cooking in the home The Wikitionary entry cooking with gas offers some insight, but I couldn't locate a specific ad campaign, or any other corroborating materials This article suggests that this would have been early in the 1900s
- Origin of the phrase, Theres more than one way to skin a cat.
There are many versions of this proverb, which suggests there are always several ways to do something The earliest printed citation of this proverbial saying that I can find is in a short story by the American humorist Seba Smith - The Money Diggers, 1840: "There are more ways than one to skin a cat," so are there more ways than one of digging for money Charles Kingsley used one old British
- Particulate vs. particle [closed] - English Language Usage Stack . . .
What’s the difference between particulate and particle? Should it be diesel particulates or diesel particles, and why? Could you provide three or more examples where it should use particulate rat
- When did the insult “up yours” come into existence?
The movie Blazing Saddles used everything and anything to get a laugh When the African American sheriff, newly assigned to a rural town, patrolled the main thoroughfare he happened upon an elderl
- on time in Chess Jargon - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Note there is a much more common non niche meaning of 'on time' (with stress on both words "Please be on time for work in the morning " meaning arrive at a specific clock time In the chess phrase 'winning losing on time", the word 'time' is stressed
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