Aug 21, 2010 · As reported by the NOAD, the pronunciation is |ˈfɔrˌteɪ| or |fɔrt|, whenever forte means a thing at which someone excels, or loud/loudly. In the first case, the origin of the word is from a French word fort (masculine), or forte (feminine), from Latin fortis; in the second case the origin is the Italian word forte, from the Latin fortis ...

Jun 20, 2015 · Using the google on books finds a "down" usage from 1951. It took Wilson Follett and Jacques Barzun fifteen years to contemne this phrase in their *Modern American Usage: A Guide" in 1966, saying "Many unschooled in the lore of battle hold an odd idea of forts.

Aug 20, 2010 · What is the correct way to pronounce niche? I've always said and heard nitch, but now I hear neesh, but it always sounds trendy to me. Thoughts?

Jan 17, 2012 · They're essentially synonymous: Proclivity is 'leaning to', propensity is 'nearness to' and predilection is 'preference for'. Worry about something more significant like the misuse of the words irony and disinterest or the mispronunciation of the the words route and forte.

Jun 10, 2011 · I've noticed that some people in my office spell out "data import tool" as D. I. T., whereas others will say "dit" (like "ditty"). Is trying to pronounce an acronym as a word, as opposed to spellin...

Strictly speaking, this is true. But as the full OED points out, Use of the latter when referring to the last-mentioned member of a group of three or more (rather than the last), or to refer to a single antecedent which is not part of a group, has often been criticized as erroneous by usage writers.

As Robusto says, you should use everyone’s.Neither everyones’ nor everyones is a word.. Note that everyone is always singular and cannot be pluralized, which means everyones is incorrect.

Aug 31, 2014 · I know the long odds, and hedging is my forte. Have always been fortunate in calling seven and nicking it. As to cricket, when I played last summers, the amateurs declared they never knew such a stop behind, it would have done you good to see the notches I got off on my own bat, and I astonished the oldest of them with bowling.

I often see the fraction ⅔ written with a hyphen, but I never see ½ written with one. Is it correct to have the hyphen in two-thirds, and if so why don't we write one-half?

Mar 12, 2022 · I'm not talking about "bidder" for "bitter" or "sidding" for "sitting," or "ladder" for "latter," etc. I'm talking about "Manhaddan," "Pudin," "rodden," "cerdin ...