I have been asking this questions to a few native English speakers but none have given me a satisfactory answer, and it has been bugging me for so long. What is the English word for the flavor that found in green fruits like green bananas or green persimmon? The closest I have found is bitter, but if you have eaten those 2 fruits, you would know it is not bitter. In Vietnamese we say “chát”, which when put in Google Translate it came out as “acrid” but the explanation doesn’t sound right, so here I am asking this.
106806
There are some fruits* that cause a peculiar (unpleasant) numb sensation in the mouth. An unripe  or a  are two examples that come to mind. I can't describe the feeling any more eloquently so my bet/hope is that you will know what feeling I am talking about.  Is there a word in English that describes the mentioned quality of these fruits and/or the sensation in the mouth?   *I don't know that only fruit can cause it, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.
104973
Does use of the salutation     Dear Drs. Apple and Banana,   imply that Dr. Apple is married to Dr. Banana?  That is, would it be better form to use:     Dear Dr. Apple and Dr. Banana,   when Dr. Apple and Dr. Banana are unrelated, but happen to both be addressed in the same letter?
15350
I would like to know the differences between health food and healthy food. I have looked them up in a dictionary, but, I can find no entry for healthy food, just health food.    So, what is difference between them?
32313
Which sentence is correct?   Every apple, every orange, and every pear is good for you. Every apple, every orange, and every pear are good for you.
38890
I have the distinct feeling there's a word often used when two people type the same thing at the same time in Internet chat contexts. Not necessarily exactly the same words, but closely related.  Maybe I've even come across it myself but forgotten it. All I can think of now is "Snap!", but that sounds a bit lame in this day and age (who plays cards nowadays, with all these video games?).
74076
Is the "B" in Brussels Sprouts capitalized?  What about the "F" or "F's" of French Fries?  I suppose it's not standard to capitalize "F" in french fries... In that case what is the proper way to write it? Please cite sources.
40520
How to describe two different objects: (Assume: one apple and one banana here)  "There are an apple and banana here." or "There are an apple and a banana here." ??
122450
Is it really wrong to say "How do we call something in English?" instead of "What do we call something in English?"? The former's not unusual in Philippine English at all (probably it's because of the influence of Spanish, which was the national language for almost 400 years). Indeed, it's quite interesting that in many European languages, they tend to say "how". Anyone who can explain this? Thanks a lot.
119141
Does anyone know what the word/name for the small plastic cup things that contain liquids (like half and half for coffee) is?  Right now I’m using sachet because a coworker started to do so, but I’ve never heard them being called that (looked it up and apparently it's legit).  I’ve thought of packets but I feel like there might be a proper word for it. Also, what do people call it in everyday usage? I don’t drink coffee so I’ve never really had to think about it.
3656
Does anyone know of a connection, or some sort of established historical/etymological explanation why in a few languages, "the opposite of left" and "truthful claim to" are the same or seemingly related words? Do they all have a common root? Did they develop independently?  Examples:   English: right  -  right French:  droit  -  droit German:  rechts -  Recht Polish:  prawo  -  prawo Russian: право - право Portuguese: direita - direito   Maybe some people can enhance this list by adding more examples?  My question also on .
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Is there any difference between "Is there something wrong?" and "Is there anything wrong?"? Also, you would say "He would like something to drink" but "Would you like anything to drink?", right? I'd appreciate if any one could explain the usage of "something" and "anything".
43342
Now I feel sick. I wish I [didn't eat/hadn't eaten] pork with cheese for dinner.   I would use "hadn't eaten" as it was my dinner but "now I feel sick" confuses me.
41689
So I planted some berries at that farm just before the bridge with Snorlax on it, in the hope of expanding my supply. I watered them, came back the next day and each tree had sprouted nicely. However, some of them had an oddly-coloured berry, which (upon picking) I found out was a berry of an entirely different type altogether.  Some scientist then came up to me, and told me she was 'researching berry mutations' and that I should tell her what mutations I find.  My mutation was a Qualot Berry, which (according to the scientist) was made from Oran and Pecha Berries. But how did this happen?  Is it something to do with the way the bushes are planted next to each other, or in a line? Or Is it completely random?  Further to this, What other Berry Mutations can I find?
75858
Is there a rule that would help me to learn when to pronounce the letter c as an "s" sound or a "k" sound?  For example:  - cat (kat)  - center (sinter)  Are there any rules, or is it all memorization?
123607
When two phrases are pronounced alike but have different spelling and meaning, can we call them homophones?  e.g. "ice-cream" and "I scream", "nitrate" and "night rate", "that's tough" and "that stuff".  Or is there another term for them?  What linguistic phenomenon distiguishes these near homophones?  I've checked the putative duplicate at  but it isn't exactly what I'm asking here.
64863
I teach English to elementary students in Korea.  One day, I noticed an African American female teacher pronounce the word,"singer" differently- "sinGer" , a strong G-sound. Is it common in America? Recently while watching CNN, I saw an basketball star pronounce this word the same way.  I just want to know whether it has to do with region, ethnicity, or etc.  I would appreciate if you could let me know. Thanks.
21049
I'd like to understand the logic behind uncountable nouns, such as "water", "meat" and others, specially "bread", for example.  I don't understand why can't we count them, since there are different kinds of water (e.g.: still, tap, sparkling, etc.), meat (e.g: beef, pork, etc.) and bread (baguette, bun, etc.).  Sorry if my question seems silly, but I'm not a native speaker.