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Are names of chemicals not proper nouns? - English Language & Usage ...
Product names which are derived after an inventor's name will often remain capitalized, though not always (e.g. the petroleum distillate used to power trucks and locomotives is called "diesel" rather than "Diesel" even though it's named after the inventor of the four-stroke compression-ignition engine for which that fuel was formulated).

Origin of the phrase, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
There are many versions of this proverb, which suggests there are always several ways to do something. The earliest printed citation of this proverbial saying that I can find is in a short story by the American humorist Seba Smith - The Money Diggers, 1840: "There are more ways than one to skin a cat," so are there more ways than one of digging for money. Charles Kingsley used one old British ...

What is the origin of "sucker" and "it sucks"?
etymonline has for suck: O.E. sucan, from PIE root sug-/suk- of imitative origin. Meaning “do fellatio” is first recorded 1928. Slang sense of “be contemptible” first attested 1971 (the underlying notion is of fellatio). and sucker: “young mammal before it is weaned”, late 14c., agent noun from suck. Slang meaning “person who is easily deceived” is first attested 1836, in ...

Origin of the phrase "Now we're cooking with
The original is "Now You're Cooking With Gas", supposedly part of an ad campaign from the era when gas stoves first started replacing wood stoves for cooking in the home. The Wikitionary entry cooking with gas offers some insight, but I couldn't locate a specific ad campaign, or any other corroborating materials. This article suggests that this would have been early in the 1900s.

gerund phrases - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Even with uncountable nouns, for specific instances/types, we have nouns preceded by indefinite articles as in the following examples. It is cold outside! I could do with a hot tea! The old diesel

"If it works, it works" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
I suppose a more realistic example is the development of powered pumps, locomotives etc. Newcomen's atmospheric engine did a vital job, but was bettered by Watt's improvements. Trevithick's locomotive of 1804 hauled a load, but modern diesel engines work far more efficiently and reliably. // I'm not sure this is really an English language question.

Throttle is to slow down, but full throttle is max speed?
Originally, throttle meant throat. So "full-throttle" for a motorized vehicle is like a lion's full-throated roar - the throttle/throat is opened as wide as possible (for maximum throughput of fuel or air). It's just that the verb to throttle came to have the meaning choke (fatally cut off someone's air by squeezing their throat), which led to "throttling back" meaning "reduce the fuel supply ...

grammatical number - Plural/singular verb agreement with units ...
When writing about specific quantities, should the verb reflect a singular or a plural value? Do abbreviations vs. spelled-out words make any difference? I took 2 ml of water, which was/were then...

"Particulate" vs. "particle" [closed] - English Language & Usage Stack ...
What’s the difference between particulate and particle? Should it be diesel particulates or diesel particles, and why? Could you provide three or more examples where it should use particulate rat...

what is the origin of the phrase "gimme a break"?
The meaning is easily found, but per Etymonline, while it probably comes from cue sports (billiards of some sort), the exact origin isn't totally clear. So this seems a valid question, even if it should explain what research has been done.