When I watched &quot;how I met your mother&quot; season 5 ep15, Robin said: &quot;Dibs on his wings&quot; when she saw Barney was on TV, showed his phone number for any girl to call if that woman wanted to sleep with him. What does Robin mean when she said that? PS: Is there any mistake in my grammar?
123465
The term "to have dibs on something" or "to call dibs on something" plays a recurring role in American film and television (e.g. ), so it gets exported a lot.   describes "dibs" as     [...] a common, "informal" convention to reserve or declare full or partial ownership of a community resource, such as a chair [...]   From the usages in the media I have seen, this convention also seems to contain some moral concept which is not described in dictionaries. For me, it looks like by calling dibs (or ), the caller actually receives the (implicit, moral) right to that resource, and this typically goes undisputed by their rivals.  Can you confirm the existence of this concept? Is this something that varies between groups of people (or maybe between regions), or is there a concensus on how to respond to this?
93288
I was reading a book and there was a sentence in it  :       Are you into me?     It was like a romantic dialog but i don't know the exact meaning.    So i have 2 questions: 1. What does it mean? 2. I think it means "Do you love me?" . If this meaning is right, which one is more polite? "I love u" or "I'm into you" ? What's the difference?
122756
Amy: What day is it today?    Tom: It's Monday. Hmm... I like Monday.   Amy: What do you have today?   Tom: We have math, science and art.What about you?   Amy: We have English and P.E. What do you have tomorrow?    Tom: We have art and P.E.tomorrow.    Amy: Oh, great.      I can understand that "What about you" means "What do you have today?"  But I wonder whether "What about you" is an elliptical sentence. If it is, what is the full sentence? If it isn't, how to parse this structure?
95269
"Do you happen to know is if she has a boyfriend?"   What does the above sentence means . I heard those line in the movie 'the social network' and I would like to know when do we use this phrase "happen to know" .
42588
I've often heard people saying this. And even I say it when someone accuses me of doing something that I didn't do.  I'd say:  Why would I do that?  But what's the grammar behind it?  Is it future from the past tense or something or what? It's obviously not a conditional construction 😒  Context from SE01 EP02 Austin &amp; Ally  Austin: what does the jacket have to do with the music video?  Trish: It's a line in Ally's song, "my jacket's in the lost and found."  Ally: "my jacket"? It says "I like it." The line is "I like it when you hang around."  Dez: "hang around"? I thought it said "kangaroo." ♪ I like it when you kangaroo. ♪.  Ally: Why would I write "I like it when you kangaroo"?
93200
I have seen the meme of Batman slapping Robin so many times. I really want to know the origin of it. When did it occur in the comics, and why did he even slap him?  Note: Spoilers are welcome.
93549
The  book has a line which reads as follows:     ... If you had but touched me, my friend, you ...   I've seen the word 'but' used this way a couple of times, but I'm not sure I understand the meaning of this phrase correctly. What is the general rule for using 'but' this way?
113896
I first heard this phrase in an episode of Family Guy, and they're typically fans of referencing older shows and movies, especially from the 80s. So I'd assumed it was a fairly commonly known thing.  Then I came across it in a friend's novel. The novel is in a Southern American, older time setting, which is about where I'd expect to find examples of it.  Then I had a look online and couldn't find examples of the phrase or it's origin.  Is there such a phrase and origin? Or is this just a coincidence with people choosing something that sounds equally old-timey?
41070
Does that expression mean "I'm totally sure" or "I'm almost sure"? I always thought the first option was correct, but once I saw in a series episode a character who said that, and his interlocutor expressed skepticism about it (something like "Are you sure or pretty sure?"). Does that depend on context, or does it always mean the same?
107023
I listen to a podcast that I like, but every episodes ends with     Our listeners are what make [podcast name] possible.   which makes me cringe a little each time I hear it. Is it just me, or is the sentence wrong? And if so, what is the correct form - should both verbs be singular? And is there a difference between UK and US usage? (The podcast is based in the USA).  I found a , but it does not apply exactly (and the  only discusses cases where the sentence stars with a time interval).  Thank you.
121998
So, my boss comes in, railing that "English is a stupid language!" Since this is pretty much a thrice-weekly occurrence 'round these parts, I barely raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.   "Mary just wrote to tell us that she's back from maternity leave, and I want to congratulate her and ask whether she had a girl or a boy, but I can't do it without calling the child an 'it'!" I blinked, then confirmed that yes, he believes the it in "Is it a boy or a girl" is the impersonal pronoun, the same word you'd apply to an apple or a house.  Is it the 'thing' pronoun, really? Or is it just a placeholder of some sort? I used to believe the latter: I gave the boss a mini-lecture about  and the . He wasn't convinced, however, and now he's got me doubting too. (Harumph. I really should know better than to listen to the boss.)  I'm not asking about politeness, here; the former title was to be taken somewhat facetiously. I'm wondering about the grammar: what role is that "it" playing in that sentence? Is it a personal pronoun (and thus the infant has grounds for feeling offended) or a dummy pronoun (and thus those who perceive a politeness issue are just misunderstanding the grammar)?
1571
When I'm talking about my friend, who is a girl, but not a girlfriend, what word or phrase should I use? If the gender was unimportant, it would not be a problem. But if I want to note that the friend is female, not male, how should I say that, to avoid ambiguity?
44677
As it is common with people from my country, I have an immense difficulty with prepositions in English, especially with the use of in and on.   When the preposition indicates the position of the object it is a bit easier to decide which one to use, but as it requires thinking from me, I still say things like "I put the bill in the fridge", "my pencil is on my bag", etc, even though if I think about it, I would know how to say it correctly.  Of course, even in those cases where the preposition indicates position the decision is not always clear, as is the case for example with "on the bus" (you are not on top of the bus, you are inside the bus) or "he is in bed" (you are not inside the bed, you are on top of your bed).  Other cases are even less clear, and I believe there is no real rule to decide what should be said; the person should just know it. Two examples are "in a bad mood", "you are on my mind".  So my first question is whether there is really no rule to help me. The second question refers to two of the cases where I still don't know whether to use in or on:   good luck on/in your exam in/on the list   The last one is especially important to me, as I have asked a number of native speakers, and each time I get a different answer. The only consensus seems to be the case where you say "on top of the list". Apart from that, some people will say that I should say "his name is in the list" whereas others think I should say "his name is on the list". And yeah, a couple of people did tell me that I can use either.  Can someone help me?
53457
I've noticed an interesting usage where "because [noun]." is used at the end of a sentence to mean "because [...everything that word implies. Nothing more needs to be said]". It often has a wry or sarcastic tone that implies the subject considers the word to be a blanket explanation for something.   An example might be "She couldn't drag herself away from the computer because internet.", the implication being that the Internet is seductive. Another example is  where "because sex" is used to imply that a group of people have a simplistic attitude to how sex affects people's lives.  The odd grammar causes a clang in my head when I read it, but of course that is the point; the author is showing how this word will stop the conversation dead in its tracks, so it is quite effective.   Is this a new or emerging usage, or have I just started noticing it?
29073
I've heard this phrase in a couple of movies, it was being used like this:     -Hey, John!      -Well, hey yourself, Mike!   Sounds pretty simple, but my question is about how appropriate is it to say that in a conversation. It sounds a little "offensive" to me, and in the movies it was being used with a negative meaning (e.g. greeting a person who you don't really like to see/talk with).   So does it really have a "negative" meaning, or am I wrong?
110005
In season 1 of Friends, during blackout, when Chandler was stuck in the ATM with a model named Jill, he tried to do some weird voice to let Monica know that he was stuck in the ATM with Jill Goodacre (I am not sure if I have written the surname correct!). When Monica was not able to understand him, he asked to put Joey on the phone and he understood what he said.   After that, Joey told Chandler to do something on which Chandler replied "Like that thought didn't pass my mind". What did Joey tell him?
3105
On the recommendation of some regulars here, I managed to watch the movie The Madness of King George  over the weekend, and found it excellent.  Anyway, one funny scene in the movie is when King George, who despite being contentedly married is quite flirtatious, remarks on the looks of one of the Queen Consort's ladies-in-waiting to the head of his attending guards:     That's Lady Penbrook. Handsome woman, what? Daughter of the Duke of Marlborough...husband's an utter rascal.    Is the usage of "handsome" here archaic, or just rarely used by those in the know? If the former, when did it become so?