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Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:46:28 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: Re: By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen
From: "benli...@ihug.co.nz" <benli...@ihug.co.nz>
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On Nov 14, 2:13=A0pm, Harold Johanssen <noem...@please.net> wrote:
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Not being a native English speaker, this is something tha=
t has
> confused me for a long time:
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 In the label of many British products one can read the wo=
rds
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 I take this to mean something like a seal of approval by =
the
> Queen (I may be wrong though - would the Queen get into this kind of
> thing?)
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 But, what is being appointed? Who is appointing it? Why "=
to". not
> "by" the Queen?
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 I have asked a number of Britons about this, and they jus=
t had
> never thought about it and were unable to give a satisfactory
> explanation. Perhaps somebody in this group, British or not, might know
> better?

Actually, a fuller form of the statement that I have seen runs
something like "By appointment, purveyors of (whatever it is) to
H.M.the Q...." This would account for the preposition that puzzles you.