ONE of Feedback’s American correspondents belongs to an association of translators. These are people who tend to be picky about words and to consult dictionaries frequently. A member recently complained on the group’s email discussion list about an advertisement for a house which mentioned a dining room decorated with “wayne’s coating”. A check with Google – always useful for measuring the pervasiveness of ignorance – came up with about 50 hits for this mystery trick of the interior decorating trade, one for a company offering “faux wayne’s coating”.
But this was nothing compared to the number of firms offering furniture and fixtures…
