French word of the day - corsage

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The word corsage comes from the French word for body. (Think of corps to ballet, and the English for dead body, corpse.)

A corsage is a flower worn as a buttonhole decoration or like a brooch or even a bracelet. You often see men or women wearing them at weddings. Often the ushers will wear one colour, bridesmaids another colour. Popular flowers are roses and carnations.

To make a corsage, you or the florist cut a flower with a short stalk. You want a flower which looks pretty, already out, but not so far gone that it will lose its petals by the end of the ceremony or the end of the day. Often a corsage will last for up to a week. (Some expensive corsages come with a teeny plastic water holder, like a tube with a base and a removable cap or tape to stop the water spilling onto clothes.)

If you are using a rose, one with a perfume would be good. Make sure that a rose from your garden has no thorns and no aphids.

Behind the flower you can place a leaf or a stalk of white baby flowers (popular name baby's breath; technical name, gypsophila). (Have a look at photos and in your florists if you are planning a wedding.)

Bulk the lower half of the flower's stalk out and make it firm by binding it with (ideally green) sticky tape.  Cover the sticky tape with a spiral of (florist's) decorative coloured wire to match the flower.

Attach to the back of the tape around the stalk a safety pin or better still a special pin which acts as both safety pin and clip, so that the wearer can choose what suits their outfit, without making in holes in their best clothes (nor damaging a hired outfit).

Corsages can be quite expensive. If you are planning a home wedding on a budget, or dressing up for a special occasion, especially if making a speech, a corsage adds a fresh summery feel, can display a rose from your garden, saves you money, and adds a complementary colour.

If you are travelling to a wedding, often only the wedding group are given corsages to identify the family or helpers. But if you arrive early you may wish to use the flowers which are sent, and otherwise get left unnoticed in bedrooms. So take with you some wire, strong kitchen scissors, and safety pins or clips which come on conference badges.

You can buy the badges and clips in bulk. or attach the corsage to a badge. Or hang it from a lanyard. You might wish to shorten the lanyard or loop it up.

Angela Lansbury, BA Hons, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Mother's Day in the USA, UK, Singapore, Australia and Canada

Mother's Day in the UK differs from other countries. In the UK it is three weeks before Easter Sunday.

Mother's Day in the USA has set a precedent and the same date is celebrated in several other countries. Mother's day is a Sunday, the second Sunday in May, so the date varies with the year. Because of the shift in the days around the world if you are phoning your mother from overseas note the time shift.

It was already Mother's Day in Australia as seen on TV when my friends in Singapore tried to book a restaurant and found restaurants were full. A taxi driver told them that because restaurants were fully booked, or charging higher mother day special prices, people who normally went out for Sunday lunch were going out for Saturday Night dinner instead.

Carnations are the popular flower as gifts in China. In the USA white carnations are preferred.

For the dates each year ahead, or previously, see time and date dot com

Mother's Day occurs on different dates and as a national holiday in some other countries such as Thailand.

If travelling to the USA you can visit the International Mother's Day shrine, in Grafton, West Virginia, commemorating the foundation of mother's day.

Another celebration coming the following month is Father's Day, third Sunday in June in the UK and USA.