Less wrack, more rack

4 comments September 27th, 2008

When you’re describing scenes of destruction, it’s tough to top “wrack and ruin.” However, use of the word “wrack” should be confined to this phrase. “Wrack” is “wreckage,” from its Middle Dutch ancestor “wrak,” meaning “a wreck, wrecked ship.”

For all other uses, “rack” is preferred: on the rack (from the old torture device), off-the-rack clothing, a spice rack, a rack of lamb, rack-and-opinion, rack ‘em up, nerve-racking, racked with pain, rack your brain and so on.

It doesn’t seem right for one version to have most of the fun, but that’s English.