Word Confusion: Attach vs Attaché vs Attachée

Posted April 28, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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This word confusion is simply part of ongoing efforts to make authors aware of words incorporated from the French, you remember . . . blond/blonde, brunet/brunette, fiancé/fiancé? Attaché is simply the same; add an extra e to create the feminine version: attachée.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may also want to explore other gender-based word confusions such as “Alumna versus Alumnus“, “Blond(e)s & Brunet(te)s“, “Chargé d’affaires vs Chargée d’affaires“, “Cher, Chéri versus Chère, Chérie“, “Confidant vs Confidante vs Confident“, “Fiancé versus Fiancée“, “Frances versus Francis“, “Petit versus Petite“, and/or “Protégé versus Protégée“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Attach

Attaché

Attachée

Sailors Attach Cargo to Helicopter is in the public domain and an official U.S. Navy page from United States of America MC2 Trevor Welsh/U.S., via Wikimedia Commons.

Foreign Attachés with the Boers is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Man in a suit presenting a certificate to woman general

Army Brig. Gen. Robin Fontes First Female Attachée to India Since 1960s courtesy of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Part of Grammar:

Verb, intransitive & transitive

Third person present verb: attaches
Past tense or past participle: attached
Gerund or present participle: attaching

Noun

Plural:

attachés (person),

attaché cases (object)

Noun

Plural: attachées

Verb, intransitive:
[Attach something to] Attribute importance or value to

[Attach to; of importance or value] Be attributed to

Verb, transitive:
Fasten

Join

Fasten a related document to another or to an e-mail
Include a condition as part of an agreement
[Attach oneself to] Join someone or something without being invited
[Usually be attached] Appoint someone for special or temporary duties

[Attach something to] Attribute importance or value to

[Law] Seize a person’s property by legal authority

MALE

Male person on the staff of an ambassador, typically with a specialized area of responsibility

Short for attaché case

FEMALE

Female person on the staff of an ambassador, typically with a specialized area of responsibility

Examples:

Verb, intransitive:
Great importance attaches to the family role.

Verb, transitive:
He made certain that the trailer was securely attached to the van.

I attach a copy of the memo for your information.

The Commission can attach appropriate conditions to the operation of the agreement.

They were all too ready to attach themselves to you for the whole day.

I was attached to another department.

He doesn’t attach too much importance to radical ideas.

The court attached his wages for child support.

Sometimes an attaché has special responsibilities or expertise.

At graduation, my grandparents gave me a leather attaché case.

Depending on whether they’re male or female, there are military defense attachés or attachées, respectively.

He’s an air attaché to General Bismarck.

Gina Dinwoody? She’s a naval attachée to Admiral Henson.

The cultural attaché in Bogota is a Paul Hardy.

Men will respond better to a labor attaché than to an attachée.

Megan Woods is a brilliant legal attachée.

A press attachée would be best to soothe those wolves.

An agricultural attaché will be more believable to farmers than an attachée.

Did you read over Margaret’s résumé to be the next commercial attachée?

Dr. Nexin has a cute science attaché and so much nicer than his last attachée.

History of the Word:

Middle English, in the sense of seize by legal authority, from the Old French atachier or estachier meaning fasten, fix, and is based on an element of Germanic origin related to stake.

Early 19th century, from the French, literally attached, past participle of attacher.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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