English

Yours sincerely/faithfully

Hannah McCall 7 Comments

I can’t remember the last time I wrote or received a personal letter. I suspect that, sadly, I am not the only one. https://pixabay.com/en/letters-handwriting-font-old-851828/

Business letters, on the other hand, are still sent and received fairly often. Writers often worry over which ending to use with which greeting. Many of the more formal closings are simply no longer used – Your most obedient servant in particular.

If you begin the letter with Dear Mr Smith, Dear John Smith, or Dear John, then you should end with Yours sincerely. If you use the first name only and know the person well, you could use With kind regards, Best wishes, or a variant of these. The choice that you make should reflect the level of formality the letter requires.

If you begin the letter with Dear Madam, Dear Sir, or Dear Sir or Madam, you should end with Yours faithfully. Yours truly is a less formal alternative.

Swan-upping

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

2014-04-09 10.42.39The annual British practice of catching swans on the River Thames and its tributaries, and marking the swans to indicate ownership (by the Crown or a corporation).

The practice dates from the twelfth century when swans were an important high-status food. The Crown still retains rights over unmarked mute swans in open water, but the swans are no longer eaten.

Modern swan-upping takes place primarily as part of conservation efforts, and education is now a key part of the undertaking.

The hyphen is recommend by the New Oxford Spelling Dictionary and other older dictionaries, but many modern uses are not hyphenated.

More details on modern swan-upping can be found here and here.

‘Insure’ and ‘ensure’

Hannah McCall 5 Comments

These words have overlapping meanings to do with certainty and security.

http://mrg.bz/onYdFqInsure:

  • To guarantee or protect (usually against risk, damage or loss) in a financial sense
  • To take out or issue an insurance policy

Ensure:

  • To make certain
  • To make safe or protect

In American English, insure is used instead of ensure. It is much less common to see this in British English (and probably to be avoided).

‘Flare’ or ‘flair’?

Hannah McCall 1 Comment

Flare and flair are homophones, and homophones are often confused. Flare tends to be used when the word should be flair. I think this is because we are more used to seeing and using flare (it has a wider range of uses).

Flair

  • A natural talent, aptitude or ability.
  • Stylishness (usually distinctive) or originality.

Flare

  • A device that produces a sudden blaze of light.
  • A blaze of light used to illuminate, alert, or signal distress or location.
  • A part that spreads outwards from a narrow to wider shape.
  • Flares are trousers that have a ‘flare’ at the bottom of each leg.*
  • An unsteady flame or a sudden burst of flame.
  • A sudden explosion in the chromosphere and corona of a star that results in an intense burst of radiation (astronomy).https://pixabay.com/en/lens-effect-flare-sunset-above-768692/
  • The extraneous light on film that is caused by reflections inside the camera (photography).
  • The curve of a vessel’s bow (outwards and upwards), which is designed to throw the water outward when moving.
  • To break out suddenly (temper, conflict) or a burst of intense emotion.
  • To glow with a sudden intensity (light or someone’s eyes). It can also mean ‘dilate’ or ‘widen’ in terms of nostrils.
  • An illness can flare up – a sudden occurrence or recurrence. Also used to apply to violence or temper.

*Before my time.

‘Complement’ or ‘compliment’?

Hannah McCall 1 Comment

This is another post written because of suggestions I have received from readers of my blog (thank you).

https://pixabay.com/en/kitchen-work-restaurant-cook-chef-731351/

My compliments to the chef.

Compliment:

  • An expression of admiration or praise.
  • Compliments are formal greetings.

Complement:

  • A person or thing that completes something.
  • An accompaniment to something that makes it perfect or brings out its good qualities.
  • A full number or complete amount of something.
  • The full amount of officers and crew needed to man a ship.
  • A word or words added to the verb to complete the meaning of the predicate in a sentence (grammar).
  • The angle added to a specified angle to produce a right angle (geometry).
  • The members of a set that are not found in a given subset (maths).
  • A group of proteins found in blood plasma and tissue fluid that combine with an antigen-antibody complex to cause the breakdown of foreign cells (physiology).

The meaning is the same when using the words as verbs. You compliment me on my dress. My shoes complement my dress.

Complimentary and complementary

The difference here is largely the same as above. However, complimentary has an additional meaning to expressing admiration or praise: it can also mean given free of charge.

Complementary means completing or forming a complement, or refers to the relationship between things that go well together.

Spelling

It may help as an aid to spelling to remember that a complement completes something and complete is spelt with an e (as well as the ‘e’ sound when pronounced).

Bag-o’-wrinkle

Hannah McCall 2 Comments

http://mrg.bz/WyrbkwThis word does not mean what you probably think it might mean (shame on you).*

Bag-o’-wrinkle is a variant of the nautical term baggywrinkle.

Baggywrinkle: rope yarns (usually old) wound around parts of a ship’s rigging to prevent chafing.

From the pictures I have seen, it looks like a cross between a brush and a mop head.

*Don’t look up baggywrinkle on Urban Dictionary though.

Is it an allusion?

Hannah McCall 8 Comments

‘Allusion’ and ‘illusion’ are often confused. ‘Elusion’ doesn’t get mixed up with them that often but sometimes it makes a surprise appearance.

https://pixabay.com/en/optical-deception-deception-graphic-813728/An allusion is usually defined as an indirect reference. However, Fowler’s states that it is acceptable to use ‘allude’ to mean ‘refer’.

An illusion is a false appearance or deceptive impression of reality. It can also be a false or misleading idea or belief.

Elusion means the act of escaping or avoiding.

Arsy-versy

Hannah McCall 5 Comments

Thank you to Aeryn Rudel for suggesting a new addition to my blog topics – weird hyphenated words!https://pixabay.com/en/pond-mallard-upside-down-foraging-724490/

‘Arsy-versy’ is an informal, primarily British English word. It means backwards, upside down, in reverse, confused or disordered.

I got things arsy-versy.

I probably wouldn’t use it in front of polite company.

‘Till’ is not a shortened form of ‘until’

Hannah McCall 3 Comments

Till is not a shortened form of until. Till has actually been in use longer than until.

http://mrg.bz/ahnXQwThey are often interchangeable; they both mean ‘up to’ (a point in time or event).

However, until is more likely to be used at the beginning of a sentence while till often appears before a noun. Until is also slightly more formal.

The contraction of until is ‘til and many sources will tell you not to use it. You can ignore them in informal contexts.