Monday, January 03, 2005

Regarding Regards

Can we get one thing straight. Regard is attention, sometimes esteem or admiration (you may have, for example, a low regard for the Phantom Nitpicker), but it is based on the idea of regarding something, of looking at it and giving it some thought: therefore it makes sense to say "with regard to usage", "regarding usage", or if you must, "as regards usage".

Regards, on the other hand, are greetings. For example, "Give my regards to Lady Davenport", or, famously, to Broadway.

Therefore anyone who says something like "with regards to this morning's meeting" is an idiot. And probably in middle management.

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