What's a phrase for a compromise in which both sides are unhappy?
english.stackexchange.com
No one, including the couple, has any connection to Kansas, and no one in the situation is happy. (Nothing against Kansas, but it's not a resolution that satisfies anyone in this situation.) There's no phrase because it's a perfect example of the definition of "compromise": neither gets everything they want, while both sides get half.
What is the difference between "meaning" and "definition"?
english.stackexchange.com
It doesn't really matter what the definition is. That's what's in the dictionary. When giving a speech to 1000 people, it is what the word means to THEM that is more important in how they understand you. If the dictionary disagrees with them, that makes no difference... Of course, you could make your own definition depending on that meaning.
formality - Why is "ain't" not listed in dictionaries? - English ...
english.stackexchange.com
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions: ain't definition in. is not. (Colloquial. Stigmatized, jocular, mock undereducated, as well as undereducated use. Its use is widespread and sometimes deliberate in educated spoken use and when writing for effect. Properly an old contraction of am not or are not.
Why do people say "over-" and "underwhelmed" but never just "whelmed"?
english.stackexchange.com
Left in its wake are the would-be superlative overwhelm (which, rather than actually meaning "more than whelmed", has simply taken over its parent's definition) and its opposite underwhelm. The only contact I've had with the word has been in the hymn The Solid Rock: His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood.