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 #2 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 0:47 am 'X Factor' |
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The new employee has an undefinable something special about them. It's probably best described as 'charisma' and 'star quality'.
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Beeesneees
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| #3 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:32 am 'X Factor' |
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| 'Je ne sais quoi' would be the equivalent. |
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Goronsky1
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| #4 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:40 am 'X Factor' |
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| Goronsky1 wrote: |
| 'Je ne sais quoi' would be the equivalent. |
Maybe, but I don't think that phrase is English. To me it looks like French.
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 Our Tort System
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| #5 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:31 am 'X Factor' |
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| Grammarholic wrote: |
I was told at work today that a new employee of ours has that 'X factor'. What does this mean?
Thanks. |
Hello Grammarholic,
I think that that should be "the."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/X+factor
Main Entry: X factor
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a hard-to-describe influence or quality; an important element with unknown consequences; also written X-factor
Example: The new center on the basketball team is the X factor.
Etymology: 1934
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/the-x-factor
the x-factor
a quality that you cannot describe which makes someone very special
- He's a player who has the x-factor. |
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Tofu
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| #6 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:06 am 'X Factor' |
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@Tort: Although 'Je ne sais quoi' is a French term, it is a phrase which is frequently used in English by native speakers when they wish to talk about 'a certain something' in the same sense as having the X factor.
Examples of other words and phrases which have made it into common use in the English language are 'cul de sac' and 'sangfroid' - and of course, we shouldn't forget 'cafe' and 'garage'.
@Tofu: 'That' instead of 'the' is fine there, It is often used in this sense when talking about an elusive indefinable quality:
"He has that certain something."
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Beeesneees
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| #7 (permalink) Sat Jul 24, 2010 13:13 pm 'X Factor' |
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| Thank you, B. |
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Tofu
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| DUE TO HER BEING ANGRY is this gramatically correct? | Idiom: I am just a wee bit lazy |
