Sunday Rest. Word Not To Use Today: charidee.

On the whole my principle with words is the more the merrier.

I'd happily make an exception in this case, though.

Charidee is an amusing (and I use the word here quite quite wrongly) mis-spelling of charity.

It's supposed to mimic the Mid-Atlantic* pronunciation of someone trying to say charity, and it makes fun of people who give money as publicly as possible.

Charity is a fine and noble thing, and I couldn't care less if people show off how rich they are as long as they put money in the pot.

As far as I can see, the sneering word charidee helps absolutely no one at all.

And I, for one, am going to disown it.

Word Not To Use Today: charidee. How this word got into a respectable dictionary I do not know - but then I suppose  lexicographers can't afford to be tasteful. The proper word, charity, which comes from the Old French charite, from the Latin cāritās, affection, from cārus dear.

*I wonder what the local accent is really like in mid-Atlantic? Anyone been to Ascension Island?