YOUR correspondent Moyna Gardner (Letters, November 9) complains about what she perceives to be the wrong usage of the word "cringe". She is offended that it is being used as a synonym for "wince". Furthermore, she goes on to say that the word cringe is derived from French and means to bow low. However, on consulting my own Collins English Dictionary, it states that cringe means, among other things, “to wince in embarrassment or distaste” and also that the word comes from the Old English word cringan, which means to yield in battle.

I do hope that the revealing of these facts does not occasion any cringing or wincing on the part of Ms Gardner.

Jim Meikle,

41 Lampson Road, Killearn.

I AM reluctant to relinquish my middle class and well-educated status but guided by correspondent Malcolm Rankin (Letters, November 9), have resolved to give up the “useless prefix” ‘so’.

So it’s no-no to so.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.