Remember when global warming was a hotly disputed phrase?
But administration officials acknowledged that the United States might not reaffirm its support for the Cairo program unless the disputed phrases were withdrawn or modified.
Their goal was to serve as a goad, a conscience, a jab in the ribs of the lobbyists and delegates from 170 countries, conveying the message that all the minutiae they were debating -- articles 3.14 and 4.8, the emissions targets, loopholes and disputed phrases marked by brackets -- really mattered to somebody.
It's commonly disputed where the phrase "bling-bling" came from, now that it is a household term.
The origin of the phrase is disputed, but Tsar Nicholas I of Russia seems to have the strongest claim.
The origin of the former phrase is disputed – there are at least two claims to have invented it several years before the Mexico World Cup in 1986, but that is when it became internationally known; as for the latter, it was coined by a Swiss-born, US-based writer, Georges Surdez, but the practice dates back to at least the 19th century – in Russia.
It's disputed as to how this phrase came about, but many sources agree this was a flapper-era phrase coined in the early 20s.
People born and bred in Lincolnshire are known colloquially as "yellowbellies", although the origins of the phrase are widely disputed, with the colour of mail coaches, the attire of the Royal North Lincolnshire Militia and a range of animals all cited as possible causes.
And who could dispute that the phrase "evil empire" was actually a rather succinct summary of the facts rather than florid hyperbole?
The family members who agonize over Gladys's retreat from reality are themselves given to lesser versions of what they deplore in her: repeating the same questions and phrases, disputing past events, forgetting names and places, following trains of thought that derail into non sequiturs.
*Initially I'd disputed Hoekstra's use of the phrase 花$花$$, as "spend $." Victor Mair, whom I trust on all matters of language, corrects the record; it is "clearly not idiomatic Mandarin" but not "technically wrong".
