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While the words in this title are good ways to end conversations, a ‘valediction’ is the official way to describe the end part of a letter, just above the signature. In fact, the word ‘valediction’ comes from the Latin ‘vale dicere’ meaning ‘to say farewell’. It is also referred to as a ‘complimentary close’. As with all politeness formulas, there are specific rules about what to use when, and this is particularly true in translation, where the traditions are different in the recipient’s country to those in the writer’s. A

Language is a useful tool. It’s the primary way that humans communicate with one another, and is an essential element of relationships, business, education and so much more. So that leads me to wonder how our language came to be the way it is. Sometimes just looking at a word can give clues about its origin and original meaning. My favorite example is the word “vinegar”. While this doesn’t say much initially, I realized that the French word for “vinegar” is “vinaigre”, a combination of “vin” and “aigre”, literally meaning