Miscellaneous Entries.
repetitive; repetitious; *repetitional; *repetitionary. The first two terms are undergoing differentiation. “Repetitive” generally means “repeating; containing repetition” {repetitive cadences}. It is a largely colorless term. “Repetitious,” which has taken on pejorative connotations, means “full of tedious repetitions” {a highly repetitious essay in need of pruning}. *”Repetitional” and *”repetitionary” are needless variants of “repetitive.”
replete means not “complete,” but “abundantly supplied with; full to overflowing.” *”Repleat” is an infrequent misspelling — e.g.: “A representative for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, asked for the organization’s position on trapping, faxed The Sun a two-page fact sheet repleat [read ‘replete’] with lurid descriptions of ‘gruesome deaths.'” Debbie Price, “New Generation of Trappers in the Hunt,” Baltimore Sun, 2 Mar. 1997, at B1. Language-Change Index — “replete” misspelled *”repleat”: Stage 1.
replicable, not *”replicatable,” is the correct form — e.g.: “Theoretically still required to shed all programming replicatable [read ‘replicable’] by a commercial channel, Alan Yentob’s BBC1 thumbed its nose at Birtist teachings, notably via the Lottery.” John Dugdale, “The Woof and the Smooth,” Guardian, 2 Jan. 1995, at T14. Language-Change Index — *”replicatable” for “replicable”: Stage 1.
replying to your letter of; referring to your letter of. Commonly found in business correspondence, these participial openers are widely condemned as weak and stilted. Also, they typically result in danglers. E.g.: “Replying to your letter of March 7, the report you inquired about is soon to be acted on by the standing committee.” (A possible revision: “The standing committee will soon act on the report that you asked about in your letter of March 7.”)
reprehensible. So spelled — not *”reprehensable.”
*Invariably inferior forms.
For information about the Language-Change Index, click here.
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Quotation of the Day: “You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you.” Ernest Hemingway (as quoted in inside front cover, The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing (1985)).
