is there a word for super general advice?

As I noted in a comment above, I think "fatuous truisms" fits the bill quite well, except that it's a two-word phrase. According to Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms (1942):

Fatuous does not necessarily or even often imply a pathological lack of intelligence, but it always implies the appearance of it and suggests a combination of foolishness, stupidity, and inanity.

A truism, according to Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003), has a similar sense of pointlessness:

truism (1708) an undoubted or self-evident truth; esp. : one too obvious for mention.

One-word options include banalities and bromides.

Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms does a nice job of distinguishing among various nouns of the commonplace family:

A commonplace is a stock idea or expression which is frequently little more than the obvious, conventional, and easy thing to think or say on a given subject. ... Platitude adds to commonplace the idea of flatness or triteness and often, utterance with an air of importance or novelty. ... A truism is a self-evident truth; it differs from an axiom ... in frequently implying a somewhat superfluous insistence upon the obvious; as, Pope's palpable truism "The proper study of mankind is man." Bromide (a slang term) applies to any commonplace, platitude, or truism that strikes the listener or reader as especially dull or hackneyed and often, as evidence of its maker's low-grade mentality...

The remark about bromide being "a slang term " shows the age of this reference work; but otherwise, the distinctions it makes remain current, I believe.

word choice - "I think she is not right" - is this sentence correct?

In this type of sentence where the verb in the main clause is a synonym of "think", "believe", etc., English speakers tend to "promote" the negative to the main clause. So even if what is logically meant is:

"I believe that we haven't met"

"I think you won't have any trouble with this"

"I suppose that you can't leave work early"

people would actually tend to say:

"I don't believe we've met"

"I don't think you'll have any trouble with this"

"I don't suppose you can leave work early"

You could argue that there is in principle a difference in nuance between the two variants. But in practice, this nuance doesn't tend to be exercised, and speakers simply tend to favour the version with the negative in the main clause. Whereas, conversely, other languages may have a preference for putting the negative in the subordinate clause.

be confused the use between adjective and adverb when it is in front of adjective

Though 'friendly' ends with 'ly', it is not an adverb. Rather, it is an adjective, as in 'Cable cars are friendly.' When you want to describe an adjective, you use an adverb. For example, take the adjective 'red'. We want to say that an apple has a 'strong' red color. So we say, 'The apple is strongly red.' Note how 'strongly' is an adverb.

So in your case, the correct sentence would be 'Cable cars are environmentally friendly.' (But in Indian English, it is idiomatic usage to say 'Cable cars are environment-friendly'.)

movie - Word that describes a dramatic change that is visible through similar events

(This might spoil some of the plot from Bridge of Spies, so Spoiler Warning!)

---

In Bridge of Spies, when the main character is on a train in Berlin, he sees people try to climb over the Berlin wall, but are shot down by patrols. At the conclusion of the story after he returns home, he is also on a train, and sees some children climb over a chain link fence, but they are not shot down.

What is the literary device to describe this change? The device seems significant because it shows a change by using two similar events that have different outcomes.

word choice - Determining which good sentiment to wish at each holiday

There's no rule; they're all idiomatic. Even though 'merry', 'happy', 'jolly', and synonyms are, well, synonymous, it doesn't make them interchangeable. People just use patterns over and over again to the point where the minutest change sounds strange (this should be part of the definition of 'idiom'). Sometimes such patterns arise 'organically' (Out of the common ether), and other times one person says something clever, in person or in media, and people start copying it.

As to alternatives for Christmas and other festive holidays, one could use good, great, or wonderful. They are both innocuous and non-idiomatic enough to not sound too strange:

have a good Christmas

have a great Thanksgiving

have a wonderful Easter holiday

As to holidays in general, correct, not every holiday warrants either a 'happy' greeting or even a special greeting at all, and only culture will tell you what is appropriate. Many religious and political holidays (Good Friday/Tisha b'Av/Ashura or Memorial Day) you just show up and commiserate.

Of course, by cultural analogy with the juggernaut of Christmas, many 'special' days seem to warrant a special similar greeting (like Happy Halloween where historically there never was one). There's no necessity here at all, it's just what people like to do and like to copy in others.

abbreviations - Usage of the word "one" in conjuction with name in genetive, like this example

Your first option is very awkward and, I would say, grammatically incorrect. If anything, it should read

...the one of Aladdin.

or

...it's one of Aladdin's carpets.

If you want to maintain the possessive, I suggest

It's Aladdin's carpet

The plural "carpets" is not necessary—the phrase "Aladdin's carpet" is almost like a collective noun. It refers to a single carpet, but it doesn't matter which one.

The "should be" in your response is what is making constructing the rest of the sentence difficult. If your friend is asking for an explanation of the comic, I would say

The reference is to Aladdin's carpet.

Is "to wear" also used as a "dynamic verb" meaning "to don", "to put on"?

My intuition was that the verb to wear could be used in two ways (besides all its other senses that is.)

1. A "stative" sense related to the state of having clothes (etc) on.


2. A "dynamic" sense related to the action of putting clothes on, donning clothes.

I was surprised to find that all the dictionaries I've checked online support only the first, stative sense, and none supported the second, dynamic sense.

Is my intuition at fault? Are the dictionaries just being a tad prescriptive with this? What do other sources such as grammar and other fields of linguistics have to say about this, if anything?

---

I've found some supporting evidence for my intuition in the Wikipedia article for stative verbs:

3. They do not occur as imperatives, except when used in an inchoative manner.

• Run!


• *Know the answer!


• Know thyself! (inchoative, not stative; archaic)

Examples of dynamic wear I can think up are mostly imperatives:

• Wear a coat if you're going outside!

(But I've never had a good grasp of the inchoative, so maybe there's a gap, or maybe it depends on who is analysing?

coordination - Coordinative ellipsis with not and unparellel structure

I worked and did not play.

I worked and not played. ?

For some reason, when the ellipsis is used after the simple past form of the verb with no "to be" used before it, it just sounds weird to me. Is there something wrong with it, or is it just that it is not idiomatical? Or am I the one who's wrong?

I had to control myself and not cry in front of her.

I always thought that second part has been used independently and not connected to the "had to" part, for I thought there should be additional "to" like this

I had to control myself and had to not cry.

Or at least this: I had to control myself and to not cry in front of her. (It doesn't sound very idiomatic... is it acceptable?)

Is the "to" deleted? If it is, why is that?

And also, when I was trying to find the answer for this question, it was clear that everybody was asserting only the parallel form should be allowed for the ellipsis after the coordinating conjunction. For example:

Sarah is [a CEO] and [proud of her job]. - NP + AP

Is Jim [conservative] and [a closet Republican]? - A + NP

He is a crazy man and may drink a lot. -NP+V

These (only the three sentences directly above it) are from Wikipedia, and not regarded as being incorrect. But looking up at the other websites, I find that they say that it is wrong, even though many people, including me, use it this way. They say that it should be parallel like this:

Sarah is [a CEO] and [a person proud of her job]. - NP + NP

Is it supposed to be always parallel?

grammar - Is it correct to use IN with the Present Perfect Continuous?

This is ugly stuff!

1) He has been reading this book in the last two days. (I think it doesn't mean )

This IS ok but I think that "---during the last 2 days." would be slightly more elegant although I would be perfectly happy with:

"In the last two days he has been reading this book."

which seems, to me, a more natural phrasing.

2) He has been reading this book for the last two days.

Well, y-e-s - although I'm not entirely sure that I agree with WS2's comment:

Means that he has been reading the book (not necessarily continuously) for the last two days.

and finally we come to:

3) He has been reading this book for three times in the last two days.

Horrible!

Again this is the actual construction of the sentence:

"Three times, in the last two days, he has been reading this book"

would be fine.

Some people say IN shouldn't be used with PPC others say it's OK.

I am sure that the purists are correct, but stuff 'em, as long as you can make it look good & read well. It's OK.

Hope this helps

dmk

adjectives - Is there a word that describes an individual who is always clueless when he has to face major challenges?

If a person does not have the ability to reason logically in high pressure situations (and is consequently always clueless), what term can be used to describe such a person? I'm looking for an adjective but a noun will also do.

If there is a medical term to describe such a condition I will be interested in knowing about that as well.

Example Sentence:

He sank into stormy contemplation, clueless how to handle the latest
of his challenges.

So from the above example, such a person can be called a __________

Word/phrase to describe a person who always searches to benefit from other people?

If I am not mistaken, you may be in search of the common word "freeloader", "a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return." While it's informal, it is far more common than most other applicable terms. A synonym of beggar might suit your needs though, perhaps mendicant (more formal and doubles as an adjective, but less commonly understood), panhandler (informal), etc.

The fact is that if one fits this description, he can't be too picky about what people call him.

Google Definitions

Freeloader: "a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return."

Beggar:(1st sense) "a person, typically a homeless one, who lives by asking for money or food."

Mendicant: adjective - "Given to begging" noun - "Beggar"

Wikipedia Definition

Panhandling: "Begging or panhandling is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. Beggars may be found in public places such as transport routes, urban parks, and near busy markets."

The Meaning of "Crank" in Scotts slang?

On a train, earlier today I overheard one Scottish guy say to another: "There's nary a hold chap in that bunch of slordy, poofy freeks. All o' 'em is crank in the head, that's what I say".

I have heard him and also other people use this term from time to time, but I am still not quite sure what it means.

Idiom/phrase which means "to pretend not to understand or know"

Sometimes (well, often) people pretend not to understand what's going on (or pretend not to understand what the other person means, etc.) when in fact they do perfectly well.

For example, Person A is hoping that his friend Person B would let him crash at his place for a couple of days, but, so as not to appear too intrusive, he wants Person B to invite him instead of asking directly. So, he says to his friend:

Hey, Person B! I've just been kicked out of my house and I have nowhere to go. I really have to figure out where to stay the next couple of days.

Person B understands that Person A is hoping that he would offer him to stay at his place. But he chooses to pretend not to understand, and, instead of saying sorry and explaining why Person A cannot stay at his place, person B says:

There's a nice hotel near here, and it's not very expensive. I can give you the address.

Another example. Person B has secretly stolen the wallet of Person A. Person A has figured out that it was person B and when they meet, he says:

My wallet was stolen the other day.

Person B says:

Really? Oh, that's so unfortunate!

What idioms in English would one use to describe the behavior of Person B in the sample situations? I.e. pretending to be stupid or pretending not to understand something rather obvious, or pretending not to know something that you know; in other words, consciously imitating ignorance, indifference, or innocence.

In Russian, the idiom is to pretend to be a fire hose (прикидываться шлангом) or to pretend to be a boot (прикидываться валенком). The Armenian idiom is to pretend to be a donkey (իրեն էշի տեղ դնել). For me, these phrases are not quite unimaginative and cause a certain amount of amusement. I am hoping to find an English equivalent (or equivalents) that would be informal and/or sound funny(-ish), but that's not essential.

Naturally, I tried to look up the translation in the dictionary before asking, but to no avail, presumably because the phrases mentioned above are rather informal.

punctuation - Using a comma before "but"

That rule sounds very odd. Few people would never use a comma before but. I believe many follow this rule: use a comma before but if (and only if) it introduces an independent sentence. This applies to the other coordinating conjunctions too (and, or, and so).

She liked him but refused to marry
him.

She liked him, but she refused to
marry him.

I find that I do not always stick to this rule: I sometimes use a comma before but-dependent when I feel a pause would somehow improve the flow of the sentence (vague, I know).

In very short (informal?) sentences, the comma is sometimes left out regardless, though some might object to this:

It's true but it sucks.

What is the technical term for the area within a fort?

A lot of these terms come from different languages and are used in different places for slightly different things.

It's hard to define the "inside" of castles because most of them are not neat, simple polygons. Some use natural cliffs as part of their structure, and most have several areas of defense. The basic idea was that beleaguered defenders in the outer areas could fall back in an orderly fashion to inner areas with their own perimeters; usually, the process was more chaotic.

Castles had to be operating trade, construction, and logistics centers most of the time, and this affected their defense design. For example, more gates make trade easier, but increase vulnerability. Having fewer gates improves security, but less trade and thus less money made means that a mercenary army cannot be hired to take the fight away from the castle altogether.

That said, the term I've read most often (in English language books) is "ward".

grammaticality - I and am

This sentence is an example of Conjunction Reduction, the syntactic rule that deletes repeated material in conjoined clauses, for example

• Bill washed the dishes and Bill swept the floor. ➝ Bill washed the dishes and swept the floor.


• Bill washed the dishes and Bill dried the dishes. ➝ Bill washed and dried the dishes.

The relative clause modifying project in the original sentence is the focus, so let's get it out of a subordinate clause and see what it looks like:

• I admire and am very interested in the project.

which comes from

• I admire the project and I am very interested in the project.

by a perfectly normal application of Conjunction Reduction.

There's nothing grammatically wrong with this sentence.

One thing that may make it feel wrong to some -- but not others; there's a lot of individual variation here, since everybody makes up their own internal rules, for their own reasons, about what "sounds right" -- is that the first verb of the conjoined VP (admire) is uninflected for person and number, while the second verb (am) is inflected, for first person singular present tense.

This agrees of course with the subject, but morphologically instead of syntactically, which may produce some distress to those who require more grammatical parallelism between conjoined verbs.

Another related difficulty might be that the inflected form am is so closely linked to its subject pronoun I that it is difficult to separate them, and indeed most of the time they're contracted to I'm. This makes am feel rather isolated out there.

Again, this isn't a grammatical problem per se, but it can occasion some distress in some readers.

I say "readers" because nobody would say such a sentence, of course. We'd say I'm instead of am, by repeating the subject, which is allowed (Conjunction Reduction is an optional rule applied to reduce unwelcome repetition, and in any given case this repetition may simply not be unwelcome).

grammar - "to be + gonna" usage

Can gonna be used without a to be verb like I gonna drink this. ?

If yes, whats the difference to I am gonna drink this.

What about asking questions?

• Do you gonna drink this?


• Are you gonna drink this?

Clarification:

It is pretty clear to me that gonna is a contraction of going to, and also that this is acceptable and commonly used on spoken language...
My questions is about its usage without the verb to be (I guess that never happens with going to).

So I would like to know if this usage is considered acceptable by native speakers and if there is any difference in the meaning. Also if it can be used (and how) as a question form.

list request - Common interjections / exclamations in English

I found the following table which seems useful:

+-----------+-------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   Word    |      Alt. spelling      |       Translation        |                             Example                             |                                                                            Meaning                                                                             |
+-----------+-------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| aah!      | aaah, aaaahh            | Help!                    | Aaaah! It's eating my leg!                                      | "Fright, shock. Sometimes it means ""ahh"" instead."                                                                                                           |
| aha       | a-ha                    | I understand             | Aha! So you took the money!                                     | "Understanding, triumph (can also be used as ""ahh"")"                                                                                                         |
| ahh       | ahhh                    | Ok, I see                | Ahh, yes, I understand now                                      | "Realisation, understanding. Sometimes it means ""aaah"" or ""eh"" instead."                                                                                   |
| argh      |                         | Damn!                    | Argh, the car won't work!                                       | Annoyance, anger, frustration                                                                                                                                  |
| aw        | aww, awww               | How sweet!               | Aww, what an adorable puppy                                     | Shows sentimental approval. (clip from Futurama).                                                                                                              |
| aw        | oh, ah                  | That's too bad           | Aw man, it hit him right in the nuts                            | Feeling sorry or pity for someone                                                                                                                              |
| bah       |                         | Whatever                 | Bah, I never liked him anyways.                                 | Dismissive, annoyed                                                                                                                                            |
| boo       | booh                    | That's bad               | Boo, get off the stage!                                         | Disapproval, contempt (also something to yell to surprise people)                                                                                              |
| brr       | brrrr                   | It's cold                | Brrr, it's -20C outside                                         | Being cold, shivering                                                                                                                                          |
| eek       | eeeek                   | Help!                    | Eeek, a mouse!                                                  | Girly scream. Surprised, scared.                                                                                                                               |
| eep       |                         | Oh no!                   | Eep! I didn't mean to say that!                                 | Surprise (female)                                                                                                                                              |
| eh?       |                         | What?                    | Eh? I didn't hear what you said.                                | "Misunderstanding. Also see ""huh?"""                                                                                                                          |
| eww       | ewwww                   | Disgusting               | Ewww, this apple is rotten                                      | Disgust, dislike                                                                                                                                               |
| grr       | grrrr                   | I'm angry                | Grrr, I'll kick his ass                                         | Anger, snarling, growling. Often used for dogs and other animals.                                                                                              |
| hmm       | hm, hmmmm               | I wonder                 | Hmm, I'm not sure about that                                    | Thinking, hesitation.                                                                                                                                          |
| huh       |                         | Really?                  | Huh, you were right                                             | Mild, indifferent surprise                                                                                                                                     |
| huh?      | eh?                     | Is that right?           | So she dumped you, huh?                                         | Asking for confirmation                                                                                                                                        |
| ich       | yuk                     | Disgusting               | Blerch, this apple is rotten                                    | Disgust, dislike                                                                                                                                               |
| meh       | eh                      | Who cares                | Meh, whatever you think is best                                 | Indifference                                                                                                                                                   |
| mhm       | mmhm, uh-hu             | Yes                      | "Do you think so too? ""Mhm"""                                  | Agreement, acknowledgement.                                                                                                                                    |
| mm        | mmm, mmh                | Lovely                   | Mmm, this ice cream is delicious                                | "Pleasure. Sometimes it means ""hmm"" instead."                                                                                                                |
| oh        |                         | I see                    | Oh, you wanted sugar, not milk.                                 | Realisation                                                                                                                                                    |
| ooh       | oooh                    | Wonderful!               | Oooh, it's shiny!                                               | Wonder, amazement (ohhh can also mean ahhh)                                                                                                                    |
| ooh-la-la | oh-lala                 | Fancy!                   | A seven layer wedding cake? Ooh-la-la!                          | An often ironic (or just funny) way indicating that something is fancy or high class                                                                           |
| oomph     | umph                    | I'm exerting myself      | Push on 3.. 1, 2, 3.. oomph!                                    | "A grunt made on sudden exertion. Also used as a noun to mean ""power"" or ""energy"" (""This song needs more oomph!"")"                                       |
| oops      |                         | I didn't mean to do that | Oops, I knocked over your cup                                   | Being surprised at or acknowledging your own mistakes                                                                                                          |
| ow        | oww, ouch               | That hurts               | Oww, I hit my thumb                                             | Pain                                                                                                                                                           |
| oy        | oi, oyh                 | Hey, you!                | Oy! You forgot your wallet!                                     | "Used to get someone's attention, similar to ""hey!"". Also used disapprovingly (""Oy, you spilled your drink all over me!"")"                                 |
| pff       | pffh, pssh, pfft        | That's nothing           | Pff, I once caught a fish twice that size                       | Unimpressed                                                                                                                                                    |
| sheesh    | jeez                    | I can't believe this!    | Sheesh, now he's drunk again                                    | "Exasperation, annoyance (corruption of ""Jesus"")"                                                                                                            |
| tsk-tsk   | tut-tut                 | Disappointing            | Tsk-tsk, he is late for work again                              | disappointment, contempt (this is a clicking sound. Clip from Futurama)                                                                                        |
| uh-hu     | mhm                     | Yes                      | "Do you think so too? ""Uh-hu"""                                | Agreement, acknowledgement.                                                                                                                                    |
| uh-oh     | oh-oh                   | Oh no!                   | Uh-oh, I think the bear is inside the house                     | Concerned for indications that something will happen                                                                                                           |
| uhh       | uhm, err                | Wait, I'm thinking       | Seven times eight is... uhh... 56                               | Indicates a pause in, rather than the end of, a sentence                                                                                                       |
| whoa      |                         | Unbelievable!            | Whoa, I just looked at it and it broke!                         | Confounded, surprised and amazed. In popular culture, marijuana smokers are often depicted with this exclamation (originally a sound used to make horses stop) |
| wow       |                         | Amazing!                 | Wow, that's incredible!                                         | Impressed, astonished                                                                                                                                          |
| yuk       | ich                     | Disgusting!              | Yuk, I wouldn't want to touch that                              | Disgust, dislike                                                                                                                                               |
| zing      | bada-zing, ba-dump tish | Haha, well said!         | "You're so stupid, you'd trip over a wireless phone! ""Zing!""" | Used (often ironically) to punctuate a punchline or witty comeback. From the sound of a rimshot, played after punchlines in some comedy acts.                  |
+-----------+-------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

phrases - What is the meaning of "six ways from Sunday"?

I found Google Books search results for several seemingly related forms of the phrase in question. They are, in chronological order of appearance, "six ways for Sunday," "six ways from Sunday," "forty ways from Sunday," and ""six ways to Sunday." Here are the first five instances of "six ways for Sunday" in the search results:

From "Morning Visits," in The American Monthly Magazine (1824):

Mrs. D[rugget, to her husband]. Well, but my dear, we must indulge the girls now and then; I'm sure you can afford it very well. For my part, if it hadn't been for that awkward Phil. Dowlas, that stumbled agen Bill's elbow, and knocked the things off of the waiter, I think it would have been a very pleasant time.

Car[oline]. Yes, the careless, good for nothing feller, he's always looking about six ways for Sunday, when he's walking—I wish he'd stay at home and his sisters too.

From "An Original Character" in The Family Magazine, Volume 8 (1840):

Near the road was a tall, raw-boned, overgrown, lantern-jawed boy, probably seventeen years of age, digging potatoes. He was a curious figure to behold. What was lacking in the length of his tow breeches was amply made up for behind; his suspenders appeared to be composed of birch bark, grape vine and sheepskin; and as for his hat which was of dingy white felt—poor thing! It had once evidently seen better days, but now, alas! It was only the shadow of its glory. Whether the tempests of time had beaten the top in, or the lad's expanding genius had burst it out, was difficult to tell; at any rate it was missing—and through the aperture red hairs in abundance stood six ways for Sunday.

From T.C. Halliburton, "The Season Ticket" in Dublin University Magazine (1860):

I sat up late that night at Springfield, with some patriots and heroes of Bunker Hill, and the battle of Mud Creek, to hear the result of the election for President, for we were all for John Adams. It was eleven o'clock at night when the word came; we were all excited, drinking success to Adams, and confusion to Jefferson, glory to the nation, prosperity to religion, perdition to free thinkers, infidels, and southern candidates, with other patriotic toasts, when in rushed Deacon Properjohn, his eyes strain six ways for Sunday, his hair blowin about like a head of broom corn, and his breath a'most gone. "Hallo," sais I, "Deacon, what is the matter of you? Who is dead, and what I to pay now?" "Why," sais he, striking the table with his fist, a blow that made all the glasses jingle again, "I'll be darned if that old unbelievin sinner Jefferson hain't beat Adams by a majority of one," and he burst into tears.

From "Blue Eyes and Battlewick" in The Southern Literary Messenger (1860):

[A description of the Sliding Carnival in Hobgoblinopolis:] "Hello! Hello! what's that? Somebody is tossed high in air, as from the horn of a mad bull; the sled is keel upwards, the rider is on his back, kicking his heels at the sky as if he thought some of the heavenly bodies might be boot-jacks. He is in the middle of the track and everybody runs into him—everybody is upset, and everybody is kicking more heels at the heavenly boot-jacks. It id a ridiculous spectacle, and suggests the idea of a kind of strange black wheel—all hubs and spokes, and no tires—revolving six ways for Sunday.

From Godey's Magazine (1864) [combined snippets]:

I wish you could have seen John Henry's face as his glance "took her in." As near as I can describe it the expression thereof was a luminous representation of that extraordinary physiognomical phenomenon known as "looking six ways for Sunday." With regard to Miss Bessy's portraiture, I can only state my conviction that, although at some remote period she had undoubtedly been young, no memory of man could have recalled an epoch in which she had claimed, of right, the homage that valor owes to beauty.

Here are the two earliest instances of "six ways from Sunday" in Google Books search results:

From Lynn Roby Meekins, "The Assistant Boss," in The Saturday Evening Post (April 8, 1899):

She folded her hands in a pose of feminine helplessness and dependence, and leaning forward a bit imploringly, looked the politician straight in the eyes, and asked in tones that would have moved a saint or converted an infidel: "Mr. Stack, may I depend on you?"

Stack afterward told of it. "When she did that," he said, "knocked me six ways from Sunday. Those eyes of hers looked right down into my soul, and before I knew what I was doing I was on my feet, saying with a bow, 'You can ma'am, to the end of time and the other side of eternity,' and what's more I'm going to do it."

From The American Flint, Volume 18 (1926) [snippet, reported in the search result summary page but not matched in the resulting snippet text]:

The glass manufacturers have it all over this man Ford six ways from Sunday. I know a lot of glassworkers who only work two or three days a week.

Here are the three earliest occurrences of "forty ways from Sunday" in Google Books search results:

From Richard Croker, "The Best Story I Ever Heard," in Masterpieces of Wit and Humor (1903):

This man [a politico from the Bowery in Manhattan, invited to attend a gala event hosted by the Tammany society] at first decided that he would not attend the ball, as he objected to appearing in full dress, but at the last moment he changed his mind and rented a dress suit from a costumer on lower Broadway. It fit him forty ways from Sunday. The trousers were too large, the coat was too small, and altogether he looked like a section of liverwurst in a misfit casing.

From Mrs. Hugh Fraser, Italian Yesterdays, Volume 2 (1913)

Since I have seen it at close quarters, I have often thought of the contrast presented by that handful of North Country shepherds and their descendants, in the Falklands, so proud of doing their best with the best they could get, pleased with their drizzly climate (it rains two hundred and fifty days in the year), because it is so English, proud of their thriving little country, sending out their pelts and mutton by the once-a-month steamer, actually growing their pelargoniums and fuchsias in the open air, and so furiously interested in their miniature politics that the Government and the Opposition are ready to knock each other forty ways from Sunday every time they meet!

From The Typographical Journal (February 1915)

[Galt, Ontario] Business, as usual, is rotten. The Reporter news side has been on a forty-one-hour-a-week schedule for three months, and not much prospect of relief for some time to come. The present trade depression has the "slump" of '07 skinned forty ways from Sunday.

The earliest instance of the phrase "six ways to Sunday" in Google Books search results appears to be this one from The Dairy (1937?) [snippet]:

There are, no doubt, many dairymen who know the food retailing business backwards and forwards and six ways to Sunday, but these are men who, at some time in their busy career, have been in the provisions business.

And the next-earliest instance in the search results is from Myra Page, The Sun in Our Blood (1950):

John laughed outright. "Dol you make a poor liar." From his shirt front he drew out his Bobtail envelope and handed it to me, its flap still unbroken. "Here you are, girl. And stretch it six ways to Sunday."

From these results, it appears that the meanings "completely" and "thoroughly" arrived somewhat later, and that the earliest meaning (and the only one during most or all of the nineteenth century) was "every which way" or, as Wikipedia and Wictionary have it, "in every way imaginable."

EDIT: One additional note: Eric Partridge, in A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Fifth Edition (1961) says that the phrase "look nine ways for Sunday" is nautical slang from circa 1850 for "to squint." That definition might be the one intended in the Godey's Magazine extract (above) describing Miss Bessy's "extraordinary physiognomical phenomenon."

single word requests - An adjective to describe someone who has a “good personality”?

Debonair?

: c. 1200, "mild, gentle, kind courteous," from Old French debonaire,
from de bon' aire "of good race," originally used of hawks, hence,
"thoroughbred" (opposite of French demalaire). Used in Middle English
to mean "docile, courteous," it became obsolete and was revived with
an altered sense of "pleasant, affable" (1680s). Online Etymology
Dictionary

Someone debonair is charming or suave. They have good manners, and
they probably look good too.

This French word has a fancy feel to it, and it is a fancy kind of word. Being debonair is a specific form of being charming that applies
mostly to men. When you're debonair, you impress women, other men, and
pretty much everyone with your manners, wit, and style. Debonair a
little bit of an old-fashioned word. Old movie stars like Cary Grant
were often called debonair, but not many people are today.
Vocabulary.com