Do you luv contractions?

Love from me and my Luv

This is about love and luv.

LANGUAGE EXPANSION
What puzzles me is that one group of people is trying to fill the language with unnecessary spoken words, such as a short space of time – how does a space of time differ from a time – let me call them the Expanders, Es for short.

You heard it here first from ‘Angelika’ (an expansion of my name).

LANGUAGE CONTRACTIONS
Yet, another group of people, who I shall call Contractors, is contracting everything written. You heard it here from An, a contraction of my name.

The daily puzzle to me is that my correspondents have not noticed that I, ever so conventional, am still writing Love from. Large numbers of correspondents are finishing letter to me with Love Pete, Luv Jon and even Luv Lyn.

WOMEN & CONTRACTIONS
Yes, a woman who signed Love might make my male husband partner or lover suspect that I was a Lesbian in love. However, the chummy word Luv suggests we are merely girls chatting in the public Ladies.

LADIES & LOOS
I say Ladies, not loo, to imply we are not actually in the loo (which could mean the cubicle), but in front of the mirror.

GENTLEMEN & GENTS
We titivate (an expansion) before going to the Gentlemen. (Please do not call them Gents – which is the males’ toilet).

SEX FROM
Let us go back to the wording of the email. On first reading of an email I am delighted to see that the man who is the source of and recipient of amorous advances has not signed Sex from, but the far more romantic Love from.

SELF-LOVE
However, when I see that he has signed himself not Love from Peter, but Love Pete, I can only presume that this reflects how he feels, that he loves himself.

Now, I’m a teacher and what many pupils fail to grasp is that purpose of different spelling, not simply phonetic, and different tenses, is to make distinctions in order to more accurately convey your meaning.

When I look at Love Peter, I see it as a descriptive phrase. It means that Peter is an egoist who only loves himself.

INSTRUCTIONS
However, today I realized something new. Love Peter could be an instruction. He is subtly trying to make me fall in love with him, or, more likely, to make me want to make love to him. He is brainwashing me. Using suggestion.

So when I see Luv Dave, what do I think? I think that love means love, true love, whereas Luv means something much more everyday and pally.

MATES, M8s, and D8s
When a man, who does not say he loves me, sends a letter saying Luv, he does not commit himself to love. But luv is wot anybody wd send 2 all thr m8ts.

M8ing
But what is a M8? It used to be a lifelong mate, part of a couple. But now we have lots of M8s. We are quite promiscuous.

So your lielong partner, he won’t sign Yr M8, even though we are mating, even when it comes to M8ing season. No. M8 is just 4 people who are phone buddies or M8s, who never see each other, let alone get into bed. A M8 is somebody who hands tools to a plumber.

COMMITMENT
So should I reply Luv from to a man who signs Luv from? Or should I be more daring and commit myself to Love from?

LEGAL EVIDENCE FOR DIVORCE
Would this convey the wrong impression if my emails were revealed in court during a divorce case?

I envisage a short story here. I must write it before I forget it. The divorce case hinges on whether signing Love, instead of Luv, indicates that the couple are having an affair.

DRAMA - MURDER
But a short story must have more drama. In real life, God forbid, such a letter should be part of a murder or suicide enquiry!

And was the third party, the real M8, the husband or wife, as opposed to partner, rational when he or she set out to murder the second party?

Since I do not like to kill off even the character in a short story, I shall have to get the assailant arrested at the door. Perhaps arrested, not by the police, but by second thoughts as to the meaning of the letter.

SUICIDE
Let me look at another scenario for my short story. Could a suicide be the result of a tragic misunderstanding? Could the recipient of the love letter, seeing that it was signed merely Luv, not love, have had a fit of despair and depression.

(Very depressing, being an English teacher, knowing that even if he loved her he could not spell).

LOVE & LEAVE
Goodness, what a lot hinges on love and luv. With that I must love you and leave you.

Oops. I think I must luv you and leave you.

I REALLY AM LEAVING
Oops, when I say leave I mean only on a temporary basis. Not because I have lost interest because despite all the Luv letters we have not yet made love.

Not leaving for foreign climes.

Nor leaving for another man. (Actually – don’t let’s go into that.)

Perhaps I am analysing too much.

SELF LOVE
I just love the sound of my own voice. And the sight of my own words. I hope you do, too. You know what I really mean when I sign
Luv An.

That’s an instruction. Merely to be pally. Affectionate, platonically.

I think I shall make love. (That is, make you love me.)
Love An!

Discreet and Discrete

What's the dfference? Simple. Discreet. 'ee' - they'd exclaim if they knew, so keep it a secret.

Related to discretion. Judgement. And indiscretion. Lack of discretion. And indiscreet. Please don't be indiscreet.

Discrete means separate.

That's just how I remember it, not a proper definition. If that's not clear, tell me, and I'll look it up in a big dictionary. I have the Oxford Concise, Chambers, and dozens more. House full of books. And Websters for American spelling. (Which you can see on many sites by using the spell checker.)

I tell children, pupils, I'm home tutor, to buy an etymological dictionary, one which has the origins of words, giving the root which is often Latin or Greek.

If you see the root of the word, it's easier to understand it, and where the spellings come from.

compliment complement

Yes, there is a difference.

The first spelling with the letter i means to praise. See the letter i in compliment. Think of the letter i in praise.

A complementary item completes the pair or set. Think of the letter e in both complementary and complete.

I teach English. Home tutor. English O level, A level, GCSE.

Nowadays you only get five marks out of a hundred for spelling. But I've had parents upset because their offspring were one mark below the next grade. Mother wails, 'Why couldn't they have given her an extra mark!'

Because correct spelling makes the difference between a piece of work which is middling and so-so and the one which stands out as top grade above the average.

The other spelling complement means two things match, like yin and yan, like icing on a cake. Like accessories on clothing in contrasting colours.

Complimentary means free. You can look them up in a dictionary. That will give you a more accurate translation. Mine will do for now to get you started.

Compliments please. They would complement this article.