Sir, - In common with certain of your recent correspondents I deplore the careless use of language, particularly by our most authoritative newspaper. One frequent and irritating error, but by no means a new one, is the use of the word "crest" when what is meant is either "coat of arms" or "achievement of arms".
For example, in your issue of December 31st there appeared a photograph which included, according to the caption, "the Kenyan Government's crest". In fact, what was illustrated was the arms of Kenya. Where supporters to the shield are included it would be correct, though perhaps too pedantic for a non-specialist readership, to use "achievement"; "arms", however, will suffice.
On January 13th the Education and Living supplement included an exemplification of the arms recently granted to the Cork Institute of Technology, which your writer describes as "the new crest". The words "arms" and "crest" are not interchangeable. A crest is a separate means of identification which appears above a helmet, cap, coronet or crown in some achievements. That of Kenya does not have a crest, neither does that of the Cork Institute of Technology.
There is a trifle more flexibility in heraldic terminology than may be commonly imagined, but in the matter of "crest" and "arms", none at all. - Yours, etc.,
Reilly's Avenue, Dublin 8.