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Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. [1] Sarcasm may employ ambivalence , [ 2 ] although it is not necessarily ironic . [ 3 ] Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection with which it is spoken [ 4 ] or, with an undercurrent of irony, by the extreme ...
Word British English meanings Meanings common to British and American English American English meanings pacifier something or somebody that brings peace rubber teat for babies (UK: dummy) paddle a walk through shallow water, especially at the seaside (US approx. wade, also UK usage) [48] an oar used to propel a canoe, kayak or a small boat
For the second portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z. Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other region; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively.
See List of English words with disputed usage for words that are used in ways that are deprecated by some usage writers but are condoned by some dictionaries. There may be regional variations in grammar, orthography, and word-use, especially between different English-speaking countries.
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Apophasis is rarely literal; instead, it conveys meaning through implications that may depend on this context. As an example of how meaning shifts, the English phrase "needless to say" invokes shared understanding, but its actual meaning depends on whether that understanding was really shared.
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The Carlin at Carnegie version can be heard as "An Incomplete List of Impolite Words" on the 1984 album Carlin on Campus (but not in the HBO special, Carlin on Campus). That version of the list features over 300 dirty words and phrases in an effort to stop people telling him that he left something off the list.