Saturday, March 21, 2009

Miscellany


We recently received two separate bills that had a number of miscellaneous charges attached to them. Hmmm! What is 'miscellaneous' we wondered and why should anyone pay a 'miscellaneous' component of an invoice when the exact nature of the item is not itemised? Here is the meaning of the root word according to Dictionary.com:

mis⋅cel⋅la⋅ny
1. a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items.
2. a miscellaneous collection of literary compositions or pieces by several authors, dealing with various topics, assembled in a volume or book.
3. miscellanies, a miscellaneous collection of articles or entries, as in a book.

Well that clears that up then. The transportation company is invoicing us for several unrelated items, a division of authors in the back room or their staff magazine...