READERS’ WORDS

Re: Last week’s “Gastric Bypass”. The small intestine does have a name — it’s the ileum, which should not be confused with Ilium. The final section is the ileum fossa. Some years ago, I had the misfortune to develop a “large mass in the ileum fossa”. To cheer myself up, I said I was suffering from Greeks and Trojans slogging it out in the city ditch.

— Tim Hankey I don’t know where this quote originated from, but I thought it explained the difference between two similar words pretty well: “No English dictionary has been able to explain the difference between the two words ‘complete’ and ‘finished’ in a way that’s easy to understand. Some people say there is no difference between complete and finished. I beg to differ, because there is. When you marry the right woman, you are complete. When you marry the wrong one, you are finished. When the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are completely finished.” — Mike Croft One the most misused words in English as it is spoken/written in South Africa is the word “lady”. “Lady” is not the feminine form of “man” — “woman” is. “Lady” is the equivalent of “gentleman”. A lady would never be part of violent demonstrations, and yet we hear on TV and read in the press of “ladies” doing such things. Hardly what one would expect from a lady. — WE Harrison Why is it that people use the word “that” when referring to human beings instead of “who”? For example, “the boy that …” instead of “the boy who …”. I have always been under the impression that “that” refers to inanimate objects.

— Sarah Hepburn