[To the Editor of the SPEcinron.] am afraid that your
" Pernickety " correspondent is really merely " pernickety " in his use of English preposi- tions. But while disregarding most of what he says I should like to take him to task for declaring that it is a Scottish " error " to say " differed with " instead of " differed from." y If he listens carefully to the conversation of the less anglicized of his Scottish friends he will find that there is a vast difference in meaning between " differing with " and " differing from." That in itself is enough to prevent the substitution of the latter for the former.
If Willie .differs from Jock in politics the meaning is simply that one is a Tory and the other a Radical, and there is no reason to suppose that they are not the greatest of friends. But if Willie has differed with Jock in politics it means that political partisanship has been carried to the extent of a personal quarrel and any friendly relations between them have been brought to an end. They have " had a difference " in the most absolute sense of the word—which, in Scotland, means a quarrel.
It is much more important that words should express the meaning of the speaker's thoughts than that they should follow " pernickety " rules of construction.---I am, Sir, &c., THE CALLANT.
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