Kate H

As in "I'll just go whip something up in the kitchen." Obviously it means to put something together quickly (lunch or a PowerPoint presentation, for example). It is similar to "throw something together."

Does the term derive from the cooking term "whipping" (e.g., whipping cream), which indicates the motion of whipping, or is it more closely related to making something (e.g., a horse) move faster by using a whip?

I'm looking for a single word that describes a semantic phenomenon that is an understanding based on cultural norms. For example,

MARY: "What a horrible morning!"

BOB (sympathetically): "It's Monday." [meaning "Yeah, I understand. The first day of the week is always bad. It'll get better"]

MARY: "What a horrible morning!"

BOB: "It's Friday." [meaning "At least it's almost over, and tomorrow will be better."]

The assumption is that Mondays are bad because they are the first day of the week (in this culture), and Fridays are good because the weekend is coming (in this culture).

Something like a tenet, but I can't come up with a better word for it. Any ideas?

The lyrics to "This Old Man" have been around in some version for at least a century, and Wikipedia says that it is as old as 1870 or so.

The first verse is

"This old man

He played 1

He played knick knack on my thumb

with a knick knack paddywack give a dog a bone

this old man came rolling home! "

I see that "paddywack" is a bullying Irishman (later changed to "patty-whack" for political correctness).

But what is "knick-knack?" A sort of hand-clapping game?

I would like to paint my own "wall stickers" (similar to the wall stick-ups that I see everywhere). The idea is that I want to create a small mural, but I don't want to paint directly onto the wall -- I want to be able to peel it off later.

Does anyone sell "blank" wall sticker paper? I'm imagining something like clear contact paper.

I can think of "car" (short for "carriage"), horsepower, sedan (used to be a covered chair on poles carried by 2 people), rumble seat, boot/trunk ... any others?

My husband and I are looking for names that work well in both Russian and English (or at least have a reasonable Russian nickname that his side of the family can use).

If it's a boy, middle name will be Aleksey/Aleksei (after my husband's brother).

If it is a girl, middle name will be either Alexis or Kathrine (this spelling, after my mother).

My other children are Anastasia (Stacey/Stasya) and Maria Veronica.

Please comment, and choose your favourites.

GIRLS:

Kristina

Natalia (Russian nn Natasha -- VERY common is Russia!)

Genevieve (use Russian nn Zhenya, which is really for Evgenia)

Julia (spelled "Yuliya" in Russian, with nn Yulya)

Nadia (it's actually a nn for Nadezhda)

BOYS:

Nikolai (Russian nn Kolya, English nn Cole?)

Eduard (Russian nn Edik)

Victor

Donovan (we'd use Russian nn Vanya, as this isn't a Russian name)

Roman

Leo (Lev in Russian)

Alexander (nn Sasha)

Ruslan (pronounced "roos-LAHN")

We recently bought a 17-yr-old house. In the bathroom (it's approx 8'x10') , it looks like the previous owners papered over the painted wall (pieces of mint green paint(?) are stuck to the back of the paper) . The paper is peeling, and I can see that it is quite thick, with a brown cardboard-like backing. At least, I *think* the backing belongs to the wallpaper! The paper is lifting/curled at the seams (approx 1/8 in), and looks pretty bad.

I have 1 1/2 days to finish the whole job -- either try to fix the paper, or strip it and paint. What kind of paper is this? Would it be difficult to remove? Will I wind up with a wall that I need to repair? How difficult would it be to fix the paper instead of getting it off? Get it off and repaper with some textured paintable paper?

Advice on the best way to proceed?

I would like to put up a wall in our basement to separate the unfinished part of the basement from the "living" area. However, the gas furnace would be about 2ft. from the wall (on the side where the pilot lights are visible). I plan to put a 5-ft sliding door in that part of the wall, so that I can access the furnace filter. How much clearance do I need to give the furnace? I live in Warren County, in the greater Cincinnati area.

We just replaced the old carpet in my 5-yr-old daughter's room with laminate flooring. Her closet has 2 sliding doors that have a track at the top and a guide at the bottom. The guys who installed the floor said not to screw into the boards, and so attached the guide to the floor with some sort of adhesive (not Liquid Nails). Not only does the brown plastic guide look out-of-place on the lovely new floor, it came loose. Someone suggested to not use a guide at all, but the doors swing on the upper track, and I'm afraid that they will fall off and injure my child. I've considered taking the doors off and putting up a curtain, but it looks temporary and dorm-like. Should I use a different type of door? My primary goals are (1) safety, (2) full access to the closet, (3) good looks.