READERS’ WORDS

I keep getting e-mails from people who promise that they will “defiantly” do something for me. The most recent was from an insurance company, after I’d queried something to do with my policy. The answer was: “Dear Sir, we are defiantly taking care of this matter.” I imagine rebellious people everywhere defiantly doing things they should not be doing, instead of “definitely” trying to help. Maybe it is just something the spellcheck does not pick up. — Katlego Moloi Thank you for writing about how insulting it is to gay people to be called “homos”. When I was young, my mother taught me the rhyme, “Sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you.” It is not true. Words are a lot sharper than stones and can hurt more. — Donald I keep seeing signs in shopping centres pointing to disabled parking. What is disabled about the parking space? Does it have lines painted crookedly or something? I know it is shorter than having to make a sign that says PARKING FOR THE DISABLED but it still makes me giggle. — Rosemary van Niekerk Lots of people get confused between “breathe” and “breath”. When you breathe in, you take a breath. You hold your breath, then you breathe faster. — Terry Wilson Please take up the cause of the word “iconic”. On the front page of The Times newspaper, I saw “Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain”. An icon is a holy or revered thing. Perhaps the mountain is holy and revered to people who live in Cape Town but to the rest of us it is just a mountain. Iconic is used so much that is has ceased to confer any special significance on anything. — Des Steyn •