Tricky Words in this week's OVI

Charity and benefit. These words have undergone many changes in meaning during the development of the English language. Charity originally meant love (see modern translations of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13) in the sense of loving care for other people. Now it means an organization that collects money or materials to give to people in need. Some givers suspect the receivers might be embarrassed to accept their charity, so they prefer the word benefit, meaning something which does somebody some good. In the end though it doesn’t matter if you call the end of Wishing Tree project a charity concert or a benefit concert; in any case it has provided a great deal of support for many people, and they’re very thankful for it. Watch the concert highlights on STV2, December 21st.

Andy's Wordshop

Wishing a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers.