Internet English Resources - Grammarly.com 2

Gérard "awful" means something bad. Thanks for reminding us. Discussing about meaning evolution is very interesting !  Anyway you can associate it with an adjective the meaning of which you emphasize
for instance
 Gosh, you're awful pretty ! which means Gosh, you look awsome ! Funny isn't it !

Hi Muriel,

Thanks for your message.

In French  we would call this word (awful) an adverb.
In English, there're lots of such strange words used to emphasize the meaning of an adjective e.g. "pretty good", "way too far", "far high", etc. I guess they are called "modifiers".

Grammarly

The word Christmas comes from the combination of the words ‘Christ’ and ‘mass.’ But where did the X in Xmas come from, and what does it mean?


Why do we shorten Christmas as Xmas?
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Good question !

Don't give up on your dreams !

Gérard i don't know the reason for "On" I would have said "Don't give up your dreams" Is my last sentence correct ?

Muriel,

-> Don't give up on your dreams
-> Don't give your dreams up /  Don't give up your dreams

Here we'd need an EMT.
I'm not able to provide a clear comprehensive response but what I can say is that both answers exist, with a suttle subtle difference (not synonyms)...

These were new to me :

Moot point : to be discussed           
  
To nip something in the bud : French equivalent : tuer ou étouffer quelque chose dans l'oeuf.      
Other meanings : 
Nip : pincement, morsure, froid piquant, goût piquant, goutte (d'alcool)
Nip and tuck : chirurgie esthétique 
To be nip and tuck : être au coude à coude

Thank you Gérard for these new expressions.

Hi Ghilaine,

You're very welcome!
My postings taken from Grammarly.com (and others) are designed to teach new things.
I remind you the site Grammarly.com was created to fix mistakes made by native speakers.
In addition to correct expressions, we can also learn about common mistakes that we might meet as well from English mouths.

"Nip" is a very short word and, given the lazyness of people, and especially of English speaking people (not exactly lazy but "the shorter the better"-, this word has got oodles of meanings including meanings coming from longer words.
In addition to those you wrote:
- as a matter of facts, small events such as pinch, bite, drink, etc
- as a slang verb, it also means to steal (Fr piquer, faucher)
- as a verb it's also used to express quick actions such as in to nip over France for the weekend
As shortcuts of longer words:
- (casual and a bit offensive) Japanese (French Jap)

The adjective nippy , is often used in common language in place of nip (I know the tendency is to shorten but also another tendency is to end with "-y") for cold weather, quick actions (persons or cars)
-> be nippy about it! = (Fr) grouille-toi ! Fais vite !

In casual British English, a nipper is a (Fr) mioche, gosse
Useful word; nippers/a pair if nippers = (Fr) des pinces

gerardM a écrit:Muriel,

-> Don't give up on your dreams
-> Don't give your dreams up /  Don't give up your dreams

Here we'd need an EMT.
I'm not able to provide a clear comprehensive response but what I can say is that both answers exist, with a suttle difference (not synonyms)...

Thanks Gérard for explaining. It's very kind.