Sir: Could you identify the origin of the term "brand new"? I cannot find anything in the dictionary def-i-ni-tion that could seem to point to its use in this way.
- Dot L.Answer: There are brands and brands, and one must be careful not to get burned. The origin of "brand new" has nothing to do with the name of an ordinary commercial product, but with something still glowing from the furnace - that kind of brand. The term is centuries old and originally was applied to objects molded in the flames. Shakespeare called them "fire-new." Nowadays our language is so mixed up that we might well go looking for a brand-new salve to put on a brand-new brand from a brand.
Sir: In a novel I am reading, I came across a word I can't find in my dictionary. The writer says a man "shrugged in resignment." Is there such a word?
- Lucy Y.
Answer: Oh, yes. It's rare, but it has been around since at least the 15th century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. But if you want to blackball it, I'll gladly join in. "Resignation" is a lot better, isn't it?
Sir: Several times in recent years I've heard the word "kindly" misused in place of the colloquial "kind of," meaning "in a way" - as in "I'd kindly hoped he'd not said that." Though it's not as prevalent as the ever-popular "irregardless," I find this illiteracy equally irksome.
- B.G.W.
Answer: You do? That shows how tastes differ. Like you, I deplore "irregardless," but unlike you, I kind of like "kindly" for "kind of." Yes, it's wrong - which simply means it hasn't been accepted - but to me it has a simple, kindly note and I'd use it myself if I hadn't been taught not to. Couldn't we call "kindly" a colloquialism of a colloquialism and let it go for informal speech? Please?