JB's new words interactive section

You'd certainly be better off doing that.

Although to the inexpert, 4 to 9 is 12 to 27

Mac me boy-

To buy 12 at 4 to 9 costs 27.

To buy 12 at 12 to 25 costs 25.

25 is cheaper than 27.

You should try betting on, say, total goals in a footie match. It gets quite exciting if you have enough on to cause a squeal if you lose.

Cross corners is quite good. That's where you multiply the corners of each side together. Generally you have to buy at about 22. It's terrible when one side has 15 corners and the other none if you buy. If you sell at 22 it's great. 15 x 0 = 0. 15 x 1 =15 and 15 x 2 = 30. If both sides have attacking wingers who like going round the outside they go up to 30 or so. You need to know the game to some extent but the bookie knows it inside out. That's why managers keep their team secret for as long as possible.

There's more to it than meets the eye of a casual observer. Those cricket commentators are betting mad. But cricket betting is not for beginners.It can get quite fraught. But it helps you understand the game better.

One problem with 12 to 25 is the interest on the stake which the bookie is getting for 9 months on your money.

Which three teams do you predict to be relegated. That can be good odds.
Wigan ruined a lot of people's season last year.

Serves 'em right.

That's why they show the corner score everytime there is one. It's the only reason to watch football that I know of.

Sorry- I forgot. You're a Scotsman.

Forget my last post. I don't seek to undermine anyone's religion.

In this link Lightwizard said George Clooney's performance is "dynamite". What's that? Astonishing?

Powerful, mindblowing, fantastic, great....

ok , I was not sure because many said Clooney's perfomance was so-so in that film.

Alert! Dlowan is gathering thoughts to raid on Poetry Section!

What does that mean?

It is better than the alternative
It is preferable to the other possible (course of action)

Beat.....
yeah ok, thank you Mac

beat= to win against, in a contest or comparison.

(in this context)

How to express the meaning that "the degree to which one thing is understood by people"?

....Suddenly lost it.

Thanks, JB

1. Here is how I would have phrased your question: How do you express "the degree to which a thing is understood by others"?

2. I don't know. Let me think about how I'd phrase the concept.

Comprehensibility? :-?

I don't understand the question....or was it two questions, unrelated?

Write it out again, please, and try to be more specific about what you want to know.

"suddenly lost it" can be slang for a variety of things.

So here is a good example in which, the "X" of my question, was very poor and causing confusion...

I wrote a form today for school's radio station. I sent it to a friend. I always chat with that friend in English, so I asked her:"Do you have any trouble understanding my form, are the idears clear?" Actually I had the intention to ask her in the pattern as "Do you think the 'X' of my form is ok?"

I think in this way I can make it clearer.

JB (thinking hard why I intial post didn't make sense)

"Comprehensibility" would work there, if a bit awkward. (It would be simpler to say "Was my form easy to understand?")

I agree with sozobe.

You could say"Was the layout of my form clear to you?"
"Did the form make sense to you?"
"Did you understand what I was getting at/driving at/meant?"

Or a variety of other things.

Thanks

And, if on the basis of my initial post, how should I ask the question with a proper definition?

JB

Your later example helped a lot.

I think sentence fragments and inexact idioms are what made your initial question hard to understand. Maybe something like:

I was trying to think of a word that means, "the degree to which something is understood by people" earlier today. It was on the tip of my tongue but I just couldn't quite come up with it. Can anyone help?

"I lost it" more commonly means "I lost my composure," or "I got really angry/ upset." "Tip of my tongue" is a very common idiom for the phenomenon you describe, where you have a specific word in mind but you can't remember it at the moment.

Yes, that helps a lot.

Thanks