English isn't my first language, and I always thought that conning meant to deceive or swindle someone, but while reading Jane Eyre, I came across this sentence:

"It was the hour of study; they were engaged in conning over their to- morrow’s task, and the hum I had heard was the combined result of their whispered repetitions."

I searched the definition on Merriam-Webster and Oxford but couldn't find anything. Does it mean to learn or peruse?

Moot is a word I kind of chuckle at because I've always thought of the definitions as parallel contradictions, if that makes any sense. If something is moot (per def 1), it is no longer moot (per def 2) because someone cared enough to talk about it. However, a debate can make it un-moot (settled) or confirm its moot-ness (per def 2) depending on the victor.

Similarly, with the verb form, one could moot an idea, only to have it mooted through argument or discussion. Makes me think of Monty Python's Holy Grail when they come to Camelot with some reverence, but then decide to leave: "Let us not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."

I'm sure someone can set me straight. Let's moot this...

From Dictionary.com :

ADJECTIVE

1. open to discussion or debate; debatable; doubtful.Whether that was the cause of their troubles is a moot point.

Synonyms: unsettled, disputed, disputable Antonyms: indisputable

1. of little or no practical value, meaning, or relevance; purely academic.In practical terms, the issue of her application is moot because the deadline has passed.

3. Chiefly Law. not actual; theoretical; hypothetical.

VERB (USED WITH OBJECT)

• moots,
• mooted,
• mooting

1. to present or introduce (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion.

Synonyms: discuss, dispute, debate Antonyms: agree

1. to reduce or remove the practical significance of; make purely theoretical or academic.

3. Archaic. to argue (a case), especially in a mock court.

NOUN

• moots

1. an assembly of the people in early England exercising political, administrative, and judicial powers.

2. an argument or discussion, especially of a hypothetical legal case.

3. Obsolete. a debate, argument, or discussion.

I know this because I am quite fucking familiar with the phrase and have never seen or heard of "Invincible." At first, I thought I read "The Incredibles"

What I want to know is when it dates to, and if it is a shared idiom in any other languages.....

See, the subtext of the phrase is "the tailor will intentionally undermine you in silent ways"

The phrase isn't "don't piss off your cook, maid, wheelwright, farmer, or political representative." It's your tailor.

In the past some words were used as normal words but now are considered offensive. Any word that are normal now but could be offensive in the future?

This is in fact a follow-up question to "Number", plural or singular?

Help me complete these words if you please.

1. The door_ of rooms 1 and 2.
2. The passenger_ of flights 123 and 456.
3. The taste_ of apple and peach.
4. The first name_ of husband and wife.
5. The (same) decision_ of person A and B.
6. The (different) decision_ of person A and B.
7. The number_ of students enrolling and graduating in year 2026.

I moved to the UK at 24 and have lived here for the past 24 years. I’m originally from a Turkish-speaking country and started learning English in secondary school, continuing through university and taking extra lessons outside school. When I arrived, I could communicate well, but I struggled with some British accents and had a strong accent myself.

I’m now fluent in English, but my accent still makes it clear that I’m not a native speaker. That doesn’t bother me, but I’d like to sound more natural as a personal challenge. There’s also a practical reason: I still struggle to pronounce certain words, and people occasionally have trouble understanding me.

I’m considering working with an accent or pronunciation coach. Has anyone tried this in their late 40s or later, particularly after already spending decades in an English-speaking country? How much progress did you make, and was coaching worthwhile?

I’m not looking for reassurance that having an accent is fine. I’m already comfortable with that. I’d just like a realistic idea of what’s achievable at this stage, ideally from people with first-hand experience.

Hi there!

I'm French with (I believe) good reading and writing skills in English, but bad oral pronunciation.

I'm having an issue with "though" and "thought", I always have to look up which one is the correct word when writing text.

Do you have any mnemonic way to differentiate them? In my head they basically have the same pronunciation, so this doesn't help as I basically make up sentences in my head before/while writing them.

Also, when do you use "I think" and when do you use "I thought" (they both translate to the same words in french)? I'm almost always using the former, but this seems incorrect.

For example these sentences:

"Don't switch up on me when things get tough".

"We were best friends, but he switched up on me as soon as he got popular."

hello people of Reddit!! I’ll make it quick for you all ahah, I’m looking for a word (adjective) with the meaning of ’someone who predicts(or anticipates) future events, and acts accordingly’

im not looking anything magic or supernatural or anything of the sorts,, I’m just looking for how to describe someone that predicts what COULD happen in the future, and takes measures to fix or change it. if possible please answer within the day cause im kinda on a time limit… thank you all !!!!

Can someone tell me what kind of accent this is?

https://voca.ro/1dcJRxQU9fUF

I've been studying English since i was 5, hit b2 at 18 years old
I've almost finished studying 5 years in collage in full English language and I've made sure to translate every single word that I've came across
and yet still facing new words every single day and almost every page or two of written English anywhere i read
like genuinely what can i do about this? and is it the same for natives? but how come i almost never meet new words in my own native language?

Both mean non-white/people of color, so why is the former considered an alternative, polite euphemism for the latter? Is it because I am not a native English speaker that I don’t feel the negative nuance between them? Do all native English speakers feel the difference between these two terms sensitive?

​I felt awkward when I first saw that term on Reddit. Because I thought "body" only meant a corpse, I assumed it meant the number of dead men among the guys they had dated, so I completely misunderstood the author.

This is my believing.

Reason of my opinion support as a second language speaker: I am glad to English I could meet with and communicate to my international friends.

So you know how teachers always tell you to say may I instead of can I, well isn’t can still the correct term, because if they don’t let you go, you cannot go to the bathroom.

Venue-the physical location where something takes place for a special event or a meeting.(i.e. convening in a courtroom for a trial)

Forum-This is a lot less physical. Anything can be considered a forum as long as it allows for communication and discussion of ideas and issues.(i.e. Twitter, Reddit, even a courtroom constitutes a forum since you’re deliberating the innocence or guilt of someone brought to trial.)

Edit: RESOLVED! I got an incredible recommendation of P G Wodehouse, I have found the first Omnibus volume of Jeeves stories and already loving it. It has everything I wanted.

Edit: “Elevated” as in “Refined” for clarity, sorry.

Is there a good book or any resources where I may access lists of phrases that were used (with ease) during elevated conversations in the past? (I don’t have access to OED)

I used to come across them in books when I had more time to read, but because I wasn’t good at looking them up I have not learned them.

I wish to learn them lately, as they’re expressive. Mostly, I come across Victorian slang but it is usually over-the-top phrases like “double-breasted water butt-smasher”.

I’d love more subtle conversational phrases that may be outdated now.

If there is no such source which may help me, I will still continue searching! Thank you kindly.

"a long driveway leading up to the winery"

I don't understand this one at all. I felt like up is unnecessary and a bit misplaced? Though I've seen this comstruction a couple of times. Can someone explain why it's there, please.

Thank you in advance!

Hello everybody i want to learn english and i am starting preparation for toefl exam for masters program guys and i have basic knowledge about english please can you suggest me best resources to learn english from A1 to C2 level if you have any guidance please give me and suggest me some youtube channels and i am weak in vocublary, if you are right then only give me right guidance and thankyou ......

I think most English speakers know the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is a pangram, where every letter of the alphabet is used. There are plenty of other pangrams, some even shorter than this one. But something I haven't seen discussed is ordered pangrams, where each letter appears in alphabetic order. As an example, I've included the below phrase. It not a particularly efficient solution, but it illustrates the idea well.

A boy can defy ghoulish jackals many openly query as trout view extra gyozas.

77 characters long counting punctuation and spaces. Not very coherent, but I'm pretty sure its grammatically correct if you twist your brain around it the right way. I haven't been able to find any other solutions to this problem online (or even a mention of it) but I have found that it's a fun puzzle to try to solve. I'm curious how low the total character count could go. I've seen that more esoteric words and a more open interpretation of "grammatically correct" leads to far shorter phrases, but I'm trying to stick with what I'm considering to the the spirit of the puzzle in keeping my solutions still sounding like a real English sentence.

Here's another slightly shorter solution I came up with:

Abacus deafens ghost in jackal's manor as piquant crust unveils waxy zit.

Most of my solutions include jackals in odd scenarios since the word is a super efficient way to get J K L into a sentence.

I doubt I'm close to the optimal character count - Id love to see what others could come up with!

Thank you very much!