21 AUGUST 1915, Page 17

" SKOFF " OR " SCOFF" P [To TEA EDITOR or Tall

"sracrxeroa."/ Srn,—The word used by "Ignottie" in his letter on "The Victoria League Club" in the Spectator of August 14th, signifying food, should be spelt "Scoff" not " &off," as its is formed by the initial letters of the words "Supply Column Officers Field Force," and came into use during the South Rathmoyle, Eclenderry, King's Co.

[The New English Dictionary quotes from a book published in 1879, showing that " setoff " was then used by the Cape Dutch to mean food, and connects it with the Dutch Schoft tnad the English dialect scat. The coincidence of the initials is a coincidence, nothing more.—ED. Spectator.]