Sunday, March 18, 2018

I need help! Send in the ... (fill in the blank)

It's funny how issues come up in bunches, and then they disappear for a long time.  Recently, I've had three or four manuscripts with the same issue, one I haven't had for a few years.  So let's talk about Calvary vs. cavalry. They are spelled differently and one (Calvary) tends to be capitalized in most instances. But they continue to be confused.

Calvary:
There's the (mostly) religious definition:
as a place: place outside ancient Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified (or in Hebrew, Golgotha)




OR a cross with the figure of the crucified Christ typically flanked by two other crosses with figures of thieves and set out of doors as a shrine

It is also an experience of intense suffering; a trial or ordeal (which doesn't have to have the religious undertones).


Then there's cavalry. And when you're talking about getting help, or support, or reinforcements, this is what you are looking for.

This noun has several meanings:

1 a obsolete :  horsemanship <the art of cavalry> 
  b obsolete :  knighthood <the cavalry of the court> 
  c :  horsemen <a thousand cavalry in flight>


 
2 a (1) :  the component of an army that maneuvers and fights on horseback (2) :  a similar component that maneuvers on horseback but fights on foot 
  b :  the component of an army mounted on horseback or moving in motor vehicles and having combat missions (as reconnaissance and counterreconnaissance) that require great mobility 

And frankly, those two are the most familiar to me (and probably you, too).  But there's a third meaning, which I had never seen in use:
 
3:  deep chrome yellow. This is a moderate orange yellow that is redder and lighter than yellow ocher — called also cavalry, chrome yellow orange, medium chrome yellow, middle chrome yellow. And try as I might, I can't find a swatch online that identifies as cavalry. 

Have any of you used cavalry as a color? Inquiring minds want to know!