Can I use "pretty" as a degree adverb to describe an adjective that has a negative meaning?
124069
What is the difference between using "pretty bad" and "pretty good" in this kind of slang context? It seems to be more of an American English quirk.        Looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad   Looks like you hurt your leg pretty good
51822
I'm trying to say:       He probably gained some __________ [good notoriety] from this picture.   I was thinking publicity, but that connotes some kind of negative to me as well (like the stuff you see in gossip magazines at the checkout line).  I want a word as powerfully positive as notoriety is powerfully negative.
485
I've been trying to think of an adjective that expresses having two (or perhaps more) conflicting emotions or opinions simultaneously. Can anyone think of one?
43011
If someone is the bearer of bad news you might say, Don't shoot the messenger. If you have something that seems unfortunate at first but ends out wonderful you might say it's a blessing in disguise.  I'm looking for a word or phrase that is a combination of the two - a bad experience that is actually bad, but ultimately heralds something good.  For example - if a couple is trying to get pregnant, and the wife gets morning sickness. There is nothing fun about vomiting and nausea, but it potentially heralds wonderful news for the soon-to-be-parents.  Is there an expression to describe the morning sickness?
41818
Is there a word for a word whose form is contrary to its meaning?  For example, "quotidian" is anything but quotidian.
83604
Do I need to put a "-" between "non" and an adjective? As an example in physics we say "a non isolated photon", "non tight photon"... The context is very formal (paper publications and similar). Is there a general rule? Are there some differences between countries?
47602
What is a nicer, less immature saying?  I love using 'A Freudian slip', but that is only applicable in certain situations.
59431
I'm looking for a word that means the opposite of what one would expect. This word might be used to express the surprise that a teenager's grandmother uses text messaging much more than he does, or that a city seems brighter at night than it does during the day.   I'm not seeking the word ironic or irony which refer to the use of something to describe its opposite experience or emotion.
47291
I was thinking of words like the "background" of a person? Their overall qualities summarised into a short form. Eulogy might be a bad example, as it implies praise. A word meaning "a summary of someone's traits and characteristics."
9219
I was reading through some badge descriptions and noticed that Synonymizer's description needs to be updated. As it stands, there is raw HTML (an href) in the description:    EDIT: after reading comments by @ColeJohnson, I have come to the understanding that this post comes off as whiny. I want to make it very clear that I wasn't ever trying to complain. My first reaction was to fix the perceived error myself. When I realized I was unable to do so, I figured the best course of action would be to find someone who would be able to make the necessary edits. Hence the post here.
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That looks an interesting book. ()   ‘Look’ can take an NP for its complement by OALD. Now what I’m wondering about is if a person/people could be a subject in the structure, for instance, “They look good guys.” If we can’t, does it have to be “They look like good guys”?
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Are there any patterns to observe in choosing the correct negative prefix to use, as in unbelievable, disproportionate, asymmetric, and intolerable? (There are other negative prefixes as well, but these are the ones I usually mix up.)  Un- and in- are probably the ones I most frequently mix up, as in *untolerable/intolerable, *unedible/inedible, *unexact/inexact, *unappropriate/inappropriate, ... I realize these are all in-, but why? Is there anything to look for there?
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I am arguing with friends about this question.  According to what I learned in school, there are some adjectives that cannot be used in the progressive form.  I think this one is ungrammatical because angry describes an emotion, which is a temporary state on its own. Therefore, it is redundant to use it in the progressive form.  Am I correct?
20792
I am aware that there are plenty of threads on intensifiers(very, rather, pretty, quite, fairly, etc.), both on this site and on the web, because of their ambiguity in terms of meaning. What I have learned is that their meaning can change depending on which country you are from, which context they are used, or your intonation. So instead of comparing all intensifiers, I decided to make my question more specific. I chose to focus on the word pretty because of its "common" usage.  So as we can see, the word pretty has two meanings and unfortunately they are "pretty" opposite. My question is can you tell me, just by taking into account  the example sentences below, in which sentences "pretty" means "fairly,", and in which it means "very?"  Does "Tom looks pretty tired" always mean "Tom looks a little/fairly tired" ?
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Is there an adjective that is somewhere between near and far?
29216
Do we say "-1 thing" or "-1 things"?  I am interested in both      two things minus one thing(s)    and      minus/negative one thing(s)
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I have a sentence which has an object that is described with an adjective:     We need to inform our interested patrons of this change.   If I modify "interested" with "more" or "less", do I connect the words with a hyphen or not?  Example sentence:     We need to inform our less-interested patrons of this change.     Also, please let me know if I have not used the correct terms for sentence parts in this question.