Meet Son of Encarta, Sr., then relax and enjoy our yummy arboreal rice.

Diane Fraser, person of consequence at DEF Communications, San Francisco, e-mails "I came across a tasty gaffe in the San Francisco Chronicle's business section [recently]. In an article about the future of online grocery shopping among the ruins of Webvan, the reporter wrote: 'At a giant centralized warehouse, automated carousels and conveyors whir into action, placing fresh kiwis, arboreal rice and herbal tea [into plastic boxes]....'

"Unless the frankenfood scientists have already developed a strain of rice that grows on trees, I'm pretty sure she meant arborio rice, the kind used to make risotto."

Resident lexicons concur with editor-in-chef Fraser: My new Microsoft [R] Encarta [R] College Dict. says arboreal "describes a species that lives in trees"; arborio is "a short-grained rice used in making risotto." It also lists newcomer frankenfood: "n: food or a food product produced using genetic engineering (slang disapproving)." CW thanks DEF for her toothsome cite.

* We have a pair of observations from watchful colleague Kathleen Much. She writes from Stanford country that her husband spotted this bit of weirdity in "his pilot's newsletter"--"'Man Hospitalized After Plane Crash Kills Flight Instructor.'" One agrees with KM that the guy must not have liked his lessons.

Her 8/2 letter to the editor at Time made this point: "Another spell-check boner: 'When King challenged Bush's commitment to passing a patients' bill of rights, the President didn't waiver (Time 6 Aug., '01, p. 20). I think the writer has been reading too many sports columns -- sportswriters seem to think 'waiver' is a verb. Doesn't Time have human copyeditors anymore?"

IABC scores again. Homonymous waiver/waver need a tad of TLC to ensure that the reader gets the right message. Noun waiver, says Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dict., 10th ed., means "1. The act of intentionally relinquishing or abandoning a known right, claim or privilege; also the legal instrument evidencing such an act." (And see verb waive -- Ed.) Waver can cross-dress -- "to vacillate irresolutely between choices: fluctuate in opinion, allegiance, or direction...reel, totter...." Here, the call is clearly for waver.

* From Phillips Petroleum Co. and Bartlesville, Okla., comes an inquiry posted by corporate affairs hand "(Mr.) Lynn Railsback," who shows us how a pair of parens can sometimes head-off confusion. He says, "In the June/July issue you mentioned the Boston Globe's use of the term 'Belgium company' instead of 'Belgian company.' Is there any rule for this preference for the name of the country or state vs. the adjective? For example, we wouldn't use the term 'Oklahoman company."'

CW's response: "I find no fast and hard rule in any of my books here. I think the choice comes down to a matter of ear, and the writer must learn to trust that small inner voice that unequivocally warns, 'Nope, that just won't do.' This is one reason why omnivorous reading is essential in the lifestyle of the scribe. As a good pal told me years ago, 'You have to know so much to write so little.' If I find out anything further...I'll be in touch."

* Roy Berces chimes in from the Customer Experience, Electronic Brokerage wing at Schwab.com in area code 415 to observe: "In recent years I've noticed many people using 'reticent' when I think they should be using 'reluctant.' Here's an example from a WSJ story: 'I'm very reticent to get into a law that almost certainly has unintended consequences....'

"Am I picking nits, or is that an inappropriate use of 'reticent'?"

CW's response: "My 1999 NYT Manual of Style and Usage sides with you (and me) in its page 286 entry: 'reticent. It means silent or taciturn. For hesitancy to act, use reluctant instead.' American Heritage Dict., 4th ed., and Merriam Webster's 10th tend to agree with your view. Garner's Dict. of Modern English Usage (Oxford, 1998) on page 574 agrees in general with NYT, and cautions '[T]he word is frequently misunderstood as being synonymous with reluctant....' Predictably, perhaps, WSJ's stylebook is mute on this pair."

Those who whine or cavil about nitpicking may profit from being reminded that a nit is an immature louse. You don't pick the nits, you live with the lice.

Alden Wood, APR, lecturer on editorial procedures at Simmons College, Boston, Mass., writes and lectures on language usage. He is a retired insurance industry vice president of advertising and public relations, His e-dress is [e-mail]