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 #2 (permalink) Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:49 pm Last versus latest |
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Hello Harry,
In my not even remotely humble opinion,... (just joking!: I recently saw the phrase and liked it :) )
'Thanks fo your last letter' sounds better.
'Thanks for your latest letter' is a bit of a tongue twister and is unnecessary.
Last letter: the one arrived last
Latest letter: the most recent
In business correspondence, however, you would say:
'Thank you for your letter of (+ date). |
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Conchita
Language Coach
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2826
Location: Madrid, Spain
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| #3 (permalink) Fri Feb 24, 2006 14:55 pm Last versus latest |
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| Conchita wrote: |
'Thanks for your last letter' sounds better.
'Thanks for your latest letter' is a bit of a tongue twister and is unnecessary.
Last letter: the one arrived last
Latest letter: the most recent
In business correspondence, however, you would say:
'Thank you for your letter of (+ date). |
Thanks for your last letter can mean the last one the person will ever send, or the most recent one he has sent. The situation makes it clear which one you mean.
Thanks for your latest letter is perfectly okay in this meaning, but in formal correspondence we more frequently use Thank you for your most recent letter. |
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Jamie (K)
Guest
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| #4 (permalink) Fri Feb 24, 2006 18:39 pm Last vs. latest |
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Maybe you remember Steve Martin's Pure Drivel which contains a piece where this guy always calls his ex-girl friend leaving lots of messages on her answer machine. After the third or so message most of his messages end with this line:
This will be my last letter.
or
This will be the last letter I write to you.
This of course is not true because everyone understands that he will call her until she finally reacts somehow. But it shows the meaning of the word last as opposed to latest.
_________________
Life is for living. |
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Nicole
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Bern, Switzerland
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| The Spaniards | Why is "Chases its tail"? |
