confused with rebut; a rebuttal, in formal debate terms, is a counter-refutation, and it also has a specific legal sense, though like refutation, the word has taken on the informal and disputed meaning of denial. relatively – Literally meaning "compared with", some now use relatively to mean "moderately" or "somewhat" (perhaps in the sense of "compared to the average or to the expectation"). AHD4 does not list this usage at all; M-W has apparently blended the two usages into one. Disputed usage: That man was relatively annoying. Undisputed usage: Though relatively harmless when compared with dimethylmercury, mercury (II) oxide is still quite toxic. S Scottish, Scots and Scotch – Formerly, "Scotch" was used as an alternative for "Scots" or "Scottish". The current convention is as follows: "Scottish" for most purposes, including people, animals, and things in general. "Scots" also for people, and for identifiably human matters and institutions (e.g., the Scots, Scotsmen; Scots Law (capitalised); the Scots language, which is never "the Scottish language"; rarely Scots culture, which is more commonly Scottish culture). It appears in combining form in Scots-Irish. The Scots pine is named after Scotland, though not limited to it. "Scotch" is sometimes (and decreasingly) used for foods produced in Scotland (e.g., Scotch salmon, Scotch tomatoes; more commonly Scottish), and always for Scotch whisky (never "Scottish whisky"). It also appears in Scotch bonnet, Scotch egg, Scotch broth and the scotch doubles tournament format (which is usually lower-cased); and in the Scotch Game or Scotch Opening in chess. Scotch is otherwise best avoided, especially as applied to people, as Scots themselves consider it offensive, including the archaic Scotchmen. There is also the unrelated verb scotch (also lower-cased), as in the following example from Shakespeare's Macbeth: Undisputed usage: "We have scotched the snake, not killed it." seek – This means "look for", but is sometimes used to mean "try" or "want". The latter usage is criticised by Fowler in the entry "Formal Words". Disputed usage: "... we did seek to resolve the Iraq crisis by peaceful means ... those who seek to emulate his legacy of murder ... the Liberals seek to undermine that future ..." Undisputed usage: "Seek and ye shall find." T than – Than is the subject of a longstanding dispute as to its status as a preposition or conjunction. they – Originally the third person plural pronoun, but sometimes used with a singular meaning or with