You did what to whose WHAT?! (Omphalographia)

[trinker]

I've had an ongoing 'tsk' for the misuse of "naval". Because really, Bestselling Author[s] & Editorial Team[s][1], $character did not have a maritime adjective in the middle of $character's torso. Nav*e*l.

And they're also *navel* oranges. Because they look like they have a bellybutton. Despite easy comparison to the British Navy's Royal Navy's (

Comments

[wcg]

British Navy

Please don't say that. It's the Royal Navy. Such careless usage has been known to cause bar fights. There's a British Army, but the senior service of Her Majesty's armed forces is the Royal Navy.

[trinker]

Beg pardon! I had no idea it might cause offence.

So...what ought I correct that to, given that this isn't for an audience of Her Majesty's loyal subjects?

[wcg]

The correct term is Royal Navy. It's the only Royal Navy in the world. (The others have qualifiers, like Royal Dutch Navy.) If there's doubt, you can say Royal Britannic Navy, but that's not its proper name.

[trinker]

How fascinatingly imperialistic, to co-opt the phrase "Royal Navy" for one's sole use. (Or rather, what an interesting artifact of a time when English was the language of the British Empire, as opposed to a global language.)

[wcg]

True enough. It is, nonetheless, the proper name of the naval service that derives its authority from the kings and queens of Great Britain.

Somewhat akin to the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea: mare nostrum, or Our Sea.