Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[kerstin]

1. What is the difference between "minimal" and "minimum"? From my dictionary. They both work as adjectives.
2. Do I say "The maximum duration of my stay in this country is six months"?

3. Is " s hit on a shingle" a famous food? Supposedly served in the army?

4. "You are not strong enough to cast the fishing bait. You might hook someone in the face."

Is that how people say it?

5. Is *dip pizza* only different because of the shape from *regular pizza*?

6. What is the right spelling of *Golly Gee* as an exclamation?

7. What is *chicken perterni* or something that sounds like that?


Thanks to all of you being out there.

[cgage2]

1. According to the dicitonary, minimum means the least, whereas minimal means very small or slight.
2. correct
3. I don't prefer to answer questions that allude to subjects reflecting the present trend to regularly include improper language in the English language. Sorry. Just because you hear it on American films doesn't mean that our whole society condones it.
4. I've never heard that used as an expression but it sounds allright.
5. I'm not familiar with that term.
6.Golly gee is correct. No one says that anymore!
7. Perhaps you're referring to chicken tetrazini - chicken with pasta in a white sauce

[CP]

3. The expression comes from the U.S. Army, a former employer of mine, and refers to a dish called chipped beef on toast. The chipped beef is salty and swimming in a sauce, poured over toasted bread. It is not very good, and looks even worse. A shingle is a rectangular piece of wood used for roofing, more or less resembling a piece of burnt toast.

4. You don't cast the bait, you cast the line. The hook carries the bait.

5. You might be thinking of "deep-dish pizza," which is very thick compared to ordinary pizza. There is also thin-crust pizza.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

Sorry I didn't mean to ask the s h *t on the shingle question. I had a conversation with a man about American food. He brought up the particular dish and told me that it is popular and it took him quite a while to explian what it is.
I was just making sure if it is worth knowing....

[CP]

No need to apologize. Of course it's worth knowing. You'll hear it or read it somewhere, or you'll need to use it in a story about soldiers, or in a joke. Just wait and see.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb