15
votes
How to express that one is having a series of bad luck to complete a task
jinxed (adj.)
having or believed to bring bad luck:
I must be jinxed - whenever I wash a wine glass, it breaks.
Some people believe the family is jinxed.
--Cambridge Dictionary
If something is ...
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11
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How to express that one is having a series of bad luck to complete a task
If you want something "superstitious", I don't think we have any sayings that refer to ghosts like this, but you could say that someone or something seems cursed.
cursed: being under or ...
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8
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Does "BITEME" have any non-vulgar usage cases? (seen with other food-related words on printed wallpaper at a restaurant)
"Bite me" is not particularly vulgar. It may be a minced oath, that is a euphemism, a way to avoid saying something vulgar. ELU notes that is a "super soft" way to express ...
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6
votes
Accepted
I'd sooner starve than eat that disgusting food. (sooner or rather)
They are two very different words, but in this context, they both amount to the same thing.
I'd sooner starve - I am going to starve before I eat disgusting food.
I'd rather starve - I would prefer ...
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4
votes
Is it idiomatic to write: "He rides to the farm by bike."?
No, it is not idiomatic to say "ride by bike". Riding is how one travels on a bike, so ride by bike sounds strangely redundant.
Google Ngrams shows how much less common "ride by bike&...
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3
votes
Is it just the way it is we do not say: consider to do something?
This is called a catenative sentence. There is a clause headed by the verb "consider" and instead of an object, the clause is completed by another clause "going fishing", headed ...
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3
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How to express that one is having a series of bad luck to complete a task
Patterns of good or bad luck are often referred to as "streaks":
We usually sell at least a few kits a day, but we've been having a serious unlucky streak lately.
It feels like I'm on a ...
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1
vote
What actually killed the curious cat?
Cats are notorious for getting stuck in trees, pipes, drains, jars and even up water towers.
WAREHAM — Firefighters are known to rescue cats in trees but on Friday, Onset firefighters saved a kitten ...
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1
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Why, if ever, is it wrong to say "I hope it's not much of a trouble/hassle on your part"?
I see no particular reason to include "of a", but also no particular reason to condemn it.
Dictionaries cite "Too much of a {something}" as an idiomatic phrase
macmillian You would ...
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1
vote
What does "tie up" mean in this context?
Definitely A. Although the money is linked to Enron’s stock effectively depending on it, the money from the 401k’s in that sentence isn’t causing the dependency. The employees who invested in Enron ...
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1
vote
Well, I declare! (dictionary says it's used for 'surprise', what's the meaning of this sentence?)
I would dispute Michael's assertion that it is an expression peculiar to the southern USA. I'm quite familiar with it even though I'm British and know little about the 'Deep South'. Oxford Languages ...
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1
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How to express that one is having a series of bad luck to complete a task
Two possibilities are "snakebit" and "star-crossed". The first arose as a dialectical variant of "snakebitten", but has become more broadly acceptable in the sense of &...
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