>
>Indeed sir. I'm taking offence at all this, having tried to inject a little
>proper vocabulary into the list.
>
>'Custom' or far, far worse, 'customized' (with a zed) is something associated
>with things like motorcycles
>and chop shops and appears to mean, "we had a little fun rebuilding and
>repainting this heap of s**t to look
>seriously peculiar and now we're going to try and sell it off to you, once the
>cable show episode is in the can.
>'Bespoke' has overtones of decent tweed tailoring and peat smoke and Purdeys
>and coachbuilding and means, "we
>made this to fit you, to your request, measurements and requirements..…Sir.
>Let us know if any minor adjustments
>are necessary, the next time you are up. Where would like us to send the
>account, if I might be so presumptuous?"
>
Andrew,
You and others may want to consider subscribing to the "World Wide Words"
list (www.worldwidewords.org), which has a weekly newsletter discussing the
origins, history, evolution and idiosyncrasies of the English language. It's
conducted by the etymologist and writer Michael Quinon, who has a dry sense of
humour. I've made a couple of contributions, and I'm certain that you will
enjoy it.
Chris
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
- Hunter S. Thompson
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