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Is "Honorable" always preceded by "The Right" in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia? Or is there a difference between "Honorable" and "Right Honorable?"

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Originally posted by shufitz:
I've heard such expressions as "well, that's right kind of you," as hillbilly dialect. So that dialect preserves an old form, otherwise extinct (except in titles)? Wow!

1. Toward or on the right.

2. In a straight line; directly: went right to school.

3. In the proper or desired manner; well: The jacket doesn't fit right.

4. Exactly; just: The accident happened right over there.

5. Immediately: called me right after dinner.

6. Completely; quite: The icy wind blew right through me.

7. According to law, morality, or justice.

8. Accurately; correctly: answered the question right.

9. Chiefly Southern U.S. Considerably; very: They have a right nice place.

10. Used as an intensive: kept right on going.

11. Used in titles: The Right Reverend Jane Smith.

OUR LIVING LANGUAGE:

Speakers of Standard English mainly restrict the use of adverbial right to modify adverbs of space or time, as in She's right over there or Do it right now! No such restriction applies in Southern vernacular speech, where right can be used to intensify the meaning of many adjectives and adverbs, as in He's right nice or You talk right fast. This broader use of right is attested as far back as the 15th century and is found in the works of Shakespeare and other great writers. Thus, what appears to be neglect of Standard English rules is actually the retention of a once-proper historical usage.

•The use of right as an adverb indicating directness, completeness, or general intensity seems to be related to the use of right in a more concrete sense to refer to something that is perfectly straight or perpendicular to something else, as in right angle. A similar connection between concrete and metaphorical meaning lies behind the Southern adverbial usage of plumb, as in He fell plumb asleep as an indicator of completeness or totality. See Note at smart.

REGIONAL NOTE:

Smart is a word that has diverged considerably from its original meaning of “stinging, sharp,” as in a smart blow. The standard meaning of “clever, intelligent,” probably picks up on the original semantic element of vigor or quick movement. Smart has taken on other senses as a regionalism. In New England and in the South smart can mean “accomplished, talented.” The phrase right smart can even be used as a noun meaning “a considerable number or amount”: “We have read right smart of that book” (Catherine C. Hopley).

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Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
Does the term, rector suggest the possessor of the title is "right" honorable?

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I didn't know the original meaning had been "stinging" or "sharp."

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
I wonder if "Right Reverand" is regional in the U.S.; it sounds southern to me, but I don't know. I surely have never heard it.

That's interesting about "smart." I didn't know the original meaning had been "stinging" or "sharp."

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Originally posted by wordmatic:

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
I wonder if "Right Reverand" is regional in the U.S.; it sounds southern to me, but I don't know. I surely have never heard it.

That's interesting about "smart." I didn't know the original meaning had been "stinging" or "sharp."

Somehow I missed this entire conversation until today: it took place while I was in New Zealand, reading about the Rt. Hon. Miss Helen Clark every day in the papers.

I believe that both the Episcopal and the Catholic churches in the U.S. address their bishops and archbishops as Right Reverends, Most Reverends, and I have even seen, years ago, in news articles I was editing on the copy desk of the Binghamton Press, "the Very Most Right Reverend" applied to some visiting Monseigneur or something, who was officiating over a Catholic wedding or funeral. So these terms are not regional.

When our son Jim was 2 years old, and beginning to talk, he could be quite comical trying to give orders to us or his older brother. In those days, we used to refer to him as "The Very Most Right Reverend, Brigadier General James P_____ W______." Of course, this title is not in widespread use elsewhere in the world, or even our neighborhood...And Jim grew up to be a computer programmer, and quite soft-spoken as well, so there is no need to call him such things now!

As for "smart," I've heard that term since I was a kid in Ohio. You fall off your bike and skin your knee and yell, "Ouch, that smarts!"

WM