READERS’ WORDS

When did “colleagues” — those with whom one works — become “work colleagues”? It’s just stupid. Where else do you find colleagues, except at work? Another tautology that drives me nuts is “one-year anniversary”. “Anno” (Latin for year) means the year in which an event took place, so the correct term is “first anniversary”. Don’t even get me going on “six-month anniversary”. — Kathy Sham

Two words desperately in need of protection are “unique” and “violent” or “violence”. You may well have covered “unique” and I suspect I am treading a well-worn path, but just recently I have been aware of many written and spoken instances where degrees of uniqueness are used. For example, “quite unique” and “very unique”. It seems that so many people are unaware that unique equates to pregnant: either you are or you are not. As for the V word, I refer specifically to the broadcast media who need to be informed that the word contains an O and is therefore not pronounced “vilince”. — Robbie Vermont

The word “quirky” is overused in so many articles about decor, interiors, et cetera — sometimes up to four times in one piece. — Anne Gaisford

This week, a picture of model Candice Swanepoel in a daily newspaper was captioned with a description that referred to her “taught abs”. I wonder where her abdominal muscles went to school, and what they learnt there? Perhaps they were taught to be taut. — Fred Hogg

E-mail words in need of protection to degroots@sundaytimes.co.za. On Twitter @deGrootS1