Word of the Dayhttp://blogs.technet.com/noraneko/archive/2005/12/12/415943.aspxToday while listening to " Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk " by Angie Sage on CD with my son the word "erstwhile" caught my attention. It's not a word one comes across often, certainly not in American English (Angie Sage is British.) I thought it woulden-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2)re: Word of the Dayhttp://blogs.technet.com/noraneko/archive/2005/12/12/415943.aspx#415949Mon, 12 Dec 2005 21:01:51 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:415949tonysobooks.google.com shows 250 results for the much-used phrase &quot;erstwhile adversary. 41000 results for &quot;erstwhile&quot;. <br>re: Word of the Dayhttp://blogs.technet.com/noraneko/archive/2005/12/12/415943.aspx#416027Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:48:39 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:416027noranekot would be interesting to see how many of those results were by native Americans authros as well as how many were soley literary (probably most.) I can't say that I've used &quot;erstwhile adversary&quot; in day-to-day conversation. It comes across to me as hackneyed and rather pretentious when spoken by a fellow native American English speaker. But that's just me!