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Furlough. Yet another word being used incorrectly. It simply means leave of absence from the military, not in the current use of general leave

What word should we use?

Alanfi, I don't agree....

Chambers : a leave of absence, especially from military duty.

Collins: Noun. 1. leave of absence from military duty . 2 (American) a temporary laying-off of employees, usually because there is insufficient work to occupy them. Verb. 3. to grant a furlough to 4. US to lay off (staff) temporarily.

Oxford Dictionary Of English. Noun. Leave of absence, especially that granted to a member of the services or a missionary. Verb: grant leave of absence to.

The 'especially' in Chambers and the ODE indicates the leave isn't related solely to the military

William Cowper used the word in a general sense in 1763, so for at least 250 years one of its meanings has been simply 'leave of absence'. Seems like a perfectly reasonable term to me.

Thanks, Spoffy. I too think it is a perfectly reasonable - and correct -word to use.

As I remember, the word "logistics" used to be used exclusively by the military until the foot-and-mouth epidemic when it came into general parlance. Now it is a bit of a buzzword in the transport industry.

alanfi

I agree with you. The word has never been used in this country (not for a long time at least) and it is a noun not a verb. At present people are being suspended, some with pay, some without.