consort/cohort

What is the different between these nouns?

As a noun, a consort is the term given to the husband or wife of a reigning monarch. Over time, it has widened to include the implication of being a partner of long-standing, a husband or a wife.

Interestingly, as a verb, 'to consort with' carries negative implications of a person spending time with undesirable or inappropriate people.

The use of cohort as a noun arises from a military context; originally appearing in relation to one of ten units of 300 to 600 men in the ancient Roman Legion.

The noun has been extended to include any size band of warriors and implies followership.

It is also used on the context of statistics where cohorts have one or more statisitics in common with the rest of the people in the group.

flush

Words in which sounds conveys meaning, texture and impact are immensely valuable in spoken language. This is one of many examples. Look at how varied its application is:

As a noun, a 'flush' applies in card games like poker. It means cards of a single suit are being held by the player. It also refers to redness of the skin when blood infuses the facial capiliaries as in 'a rosy flush' which could be caused by excess sun, emotional awkwardness or too much wine!

As a verb, the meaning is taken from the context and can be:

• the act of blushing or causing someone to blush
• to flood with water or other liquid (as in the medical procedure of flushing a wound)
• to drive out (as in cleansing with water or liquid a pipe or other contained space e.g a toilet)
• to drive out (as in causing a person, bird or animal to escape their hiding place)

As an adjective, the word has several applications including:

•  material or goods being adjacent to, continuous with or even with other matter
• abundance in relation to wealth and money
• as a metaphor for 'full to the brim' as in 'flushed with success'

If you had to use this word at work, how and where would you apply it?

vast

This is a wonderful four-letter word that can be used as an adjective literally and figuratively to express largeness and immensity.

Honour its intention as applied to extremely large physical boundaries. Use it sparingly in relation to far-reaching, massive scope projects and concepts.

That way, the immensity inherent in the word will be carried into the mind of listeners.

Compliment or Complement?

English has many of these examples - far too many for some of us!

I'm writing about words that sound the same when you speak, but which are spelt differently on paper.

A compliment is the genuine positive comment that you make when you are honouring a person, their actions or an attribute or skill. When you compliment someone you are verbally noting to them or those around them what you particularly admire about them or their actions.

In contrast, when you write of something that complements something else, the word serves as a verb in the sentence. In this context, complement means something that accompanies, or goes with and very likely, enhances something else.A simple example is the use of basil that complements the flavour of tomatoes in a salad.

busy

This four-letter work lends itself to being overused.  This is because its meaning 'fully occupied or engaged' can apply to multiple situations and circumstances.

For instance, 'busy work' in workplace contexts implies that the work being done is occupying people but is not necessarily valuable or relevant to the organisation and its purpose.

A 'busybody' is the name given to a person who involves themself in matters that are not relevant to them.