Speaking in Tongues

i always thought that croaking was the sound frogs make.

hi gang, i am looking for the equivalent english word to the german word 'krepieren'. to those of you who don't know the meaning of 'krepieren', it is to die slowly and painfully (the german 'krepieren' wraps it up in one word)

i know there is the expression to waste away, but that i think is more a silent death where one looses weight and dies slowly, wheras 'krepieren' implies an immense amount of suffering.

i found the expression 'to croak it', and wondered if that conveys the meaning of…

Did anyone watch 'Police Interceptors' on Wednesday night (Channel 5), here in The UK?
When the cops stop and search - the TV crew sometimes blot out the suspects (and others) faces.
Howewer, there was a scene where they were trying to retrieve a stray dog.
As they showed a close-up of it, they blotted out 'Its' face.
Wonder why. Potty - or what.

The New York Times is running a column about the problem of finding a nice way to say old+ that doesn't offend baby boomers, who don't like +old as a concept, much less a word. Is this a particularly American hangup, or is it arising in other cultures and languages as well?

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/elderly-no-more/

I just saw a news article on the BBC about a group of nuns in the USA that the Vatican annoyed with. The name of the group is "The Leadership Conference of Women Religious".

Now I realize that the "LC of Religious Women" might be too broad a term, but "women religious" definitely sounds strange. Or has the word 'religious' lost its adjectival form without my noticing?

Aunque sé que significa, no creo que la he oído muy a menudo. Pero, una colega me dice que se usa 'soler' muy a menudo por todos partes, más que nada, cuando se habla del pasado.

Hazme el favor de decirme de que país eres y si por allí lo usas mucho o por lo menos lo oyes mucho.

Gracias,
Kendrick

What do you think of a university by the name of HafenCity University Hamburg? Would you take qualifications with a university with such a name seriously? Or do you think because it's from Germany, it can't be that bad?

(It was founded in 2005; For the non-German speakers, Hafen means harbour.)

https://www.hcu-hamburg.de/en/

Twice within the last week I have run into someone from the UK commenting that something is "right up my street." (An idiom for "well suited to one’s tastes, interests, or abilities")

As an American, I would say it's"right up my alley." A bit of searching gets me comments that "street" is "chiefly British." Google Ngrams seems to confirm it.

Is it? Do people in other English speaking places use street or alley?

Are there similar idioms in other languages?

Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart, in The Real War 1914 - 1918 (1930) writes:

The railway system in Germany had been developed under military guidance and supervision -- so strict that not even a narrow-gauge line or road rail could be laid without the approval of the Chief of the General Staff.

What is a road rail?

I don't know why 1918 and 1930 look like links. 1918 is part of the title. 1930 is the date of publication (at which time the author was plain Captqin BH Liddell Hart).

Edited…

What do non-English speaking countries call that period of time, last half of the 19th century, that English speaking countries call the Victorian era? I can imagine the French would have some "number" Republic for it, but what would the Bulgarians/Peruvians/ Nepalese call it?