My mother-in-law always creates the most divine Christmas evening buffet (not "spread"!) for the family. After a joyous, yet long long day of celebration, it is such a delight to imbibe in champagne and enjoy her culinary creations while sitting in the living room together to relive the memories of the day (all the while the children are playing with their newly acquired Santa toys!)
It has come to my attention to correct a few commonly used words whose hidden interpretations you may not be aware of. The use of these words can often reflect one's education and background as a part of the old school code. Mummy wanted me to know the difference.
Here is a personal story detailing the consequences: my girls prep school English teacher reprimanded me, in front of the entire 8th-grade class (the kind of embarrassment that you never forget!) for using the word "raised" in my sentence: "He was raised in America." She said animals and crops are "raised" and children are "reared". So from then on, my children were "reared in New England"! Reared is the more traditional, polished choice.
Other common mistakes include:
Correct Form: Children
Incorrect: Kids
Reasoning: Kids are baby goats, “raised” by a mother goat!
Correct Form: Buffet
Incorrect: Spread
Reasoning: A time-honored tradition, "spread" is never used.
Correct Form: Dinner Jacket or Black Tie
Incorrect: Tuxedo
Reasoning: A time-honored tradition, "tuxedo" is never used.
Correct Form: How do you do?
Incorrect: Pleased to meet you
Reasoning: A time-honored tradition, “pleased to meet you” is only used after both people state the “how do you do?” greeting first.
Correct Form: To have tea
Incorrect Form: To take tea
Reasoning: One takes a bath, one has tea.
Stuart and I were honored to attend the black-tie dinner (not tuxedo!) gala at the invitation of Peter Lyden, the President of the Institute of Architecture and Art for the celebratory Arthur Ross awards, held at The University Club in NY city.