Grammar!

Dear Bill Duax:

Does the Editor of the IUCr Newsletter remember the difference between employer and employee or referrer and referee? Instead of attendee could we have participant or even at tender?

Dear Alan Mackay:

The Editor can not spell and is a dismal failure at punctuation, but he does think he remembers the difference between employer and employee, referrer (although he has seldom, if ever used the word) and referee (which he has been). He has even been known to use the term participant (Vol. 2, No.1, p. 4) but he finds attendee tolerated by the New World Dictionary, if not the old (Oxford). Attender sounds as strange to him as attendee apparently does to you. In any event, the Editor is honored to receive e-mail from someone of your erudition. Thanks for reading. I predict you will find decreased use of attendee in future issues. The Editor likes to think he is educable.