Vexillological terms can be vexing. For starters, not all of us are aware that "vexillology" refers to the study of flags.

But even if we do know the meaning, what about all the jargon that goes with the word — some of it original, and some of it hoisted from other fields, especially heraldry.

Canton? (A small square design on some flags.) Ferrule? (A metal tip at the bottom of a pole or staff.) Fimbriation? (A narrow border.) Grommet? (A washer, often made of brass, the rope goes through.) Quincunx? (A specific arrangement of five symbols, such as stars.)

Of course not all terms require riffling through a dictionary. If a flag gets tangled in the rope while being raised or lowered, for instance, it's fouled.

That's straightforward enough. But what is the proper term for flags that have been lowered as a sign of mourning?

Half-staff? Half-mast? Does it matter?

When former prime minister Pierre Trudeau died, several people accused the CBC of fouling up the language.

Here are a couple of the complaints:

Sept. 30, 2000

Ever since the death of Mr. Trudeau, I have been hearing CBC radio and television announcers say that "flags are at half-mast". I don't see any ships around here.

Ships and boats have "masts" — the rest of us make do with "staffs" . . . .

Normally, I would not bother to mention this except I know that Mr. Trudeau would have known the difference.

Other than that, I love the CBC and always have. And the site is excellent. Keep up the good work . . . .

Bill Billowen
Ottawa

Oct. 2, 2000

No one writing or editing your stories about Trudeau's death realize that in Canada, the term for lowering a flag is half-staff, not half-mast (which is an American term.) CP and several print reporters do realize this.

Ironic, given how Trudeau worked so hard to ensure we Canadians do not follow blindly in the footsteps of Americans.

Jo Mrozewski
Burnaby, B.C.

The first letter suggests mast should be restricted to ships. The second insists that half-mast is an American expression.

Neither claim is correct, according to leading language authorities.

DEFINITIONS UNFURLED

The 1998 New Oxford English Dictionary and the Penguin Canadian Dictionary include entries for half-mast but not for half-staff.

The Gage Canadian Dictionary lists half-staff as a synonym for half-mast, adding that it is especially common in the United States.

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary broadens the geography a bit, suggesting half-staff is a term that would be understood by many North Americans. Its brief definition? "half-staff = half-mast".

A well known American dictionary, Webster's, considers the words interchangeable, pointing out that half-mast (from the 1620s) is older than half-staff (which first appeared in the early 1700s.)

The Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage rejects the argument that one of the terms should be restricted to ships. It says "half-mast and half-staff are both in common use for flags on land, and both terms are perfectly acceptable."

THE MYTH ABOUT MAST

Even though virtually all dictionaries point out that half-mast and half-staff are synonymous, some people maintain that you don't have both oars in the water if you apply the first term to flags on shore.

There are three reasons to reject the argument. First, mast may not have started exclusively as a nautical term. There is evidence that it is tied to a Latin word for "stake" (palus), an Irish word for "club" (maite), and an Indo-European expression for "rod" (mazdos). Some lexicographers believe it may also have roots in an old term for "timber".

The second point is found in the mammoth Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. According to Volume Nine (which covers about half of all words that begin with "L" and "M"), people have been calling tall poles on land masts for more than 350 years — from towers that guide travellers in the mountains to those that support telegraph wires and broadcasting equipment. In other words it's a bit too late to start complaining. The ship, in fact, has sailed.

The third reason raises and salutes common sense. If it's OK to describe a tidy house as "shipshape" or to call a refuge far from water a "port in the storm", why insist on limiting "mast" to mariners? By extension, we would also have to stop scuttling agreements, harbouring grudges, and anchoring newscasts. Captains of industry could no longer stay on an even keel while all hands on deck learned the ropes.

Although there might be merit in hurling such clichés overboard, the move would be based on their lack of originality not on their maritime origin.

MASTS AND THE MAPLE LEAF

When Pierre Trudeau died, the Government of Canada ordered all flags on Crown land flown at half-mast.

The following statement was issued on September 28, 2000:

Flags on the Peace Tower at Ottawa, and on federal government buildings and establishments across Canada and abroad, are to be flown at half-mast until sunset Tuesday, October 3, 2000, the day of the funeral of the late Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The term is part of the Canadian Heritage Department's official Flag Etiquette, which covers everything from the correct way to drape caskets to the right way to dispose of worn out flags.

STARS AND STRIPES AND STAFFS

Americans have an official Flag Code that outlines similar guidelines.

One obvious difference is the choice of terms to describe the proper way to honour the dead:

By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.

Another distinction is the amount of time the flags remain lowered. A former U.S. president is honoured for 30 days, while a sitting U.S. vice-president is remembered for 10 days. By contrast, Canadian flags were raised again less than a week after Trudeau died.

MEDIA MOORINGS

For years the CBC has encouraged journalists to use the term half-mast to refer to all flags that have been lowered as a sign of mourning. Although half-staff is acknowledged as the official expression in the United States, it would be confusing and inconsistent for a Canadian broadcaster to adopt different words for different countries.

The Associated Press, an American news agency, advises journalists to use half-staff unless the flag being lowered "is on a ship or at a naval installation." Many large U.S. newspapers, including the New York Times, agree.

The Canadian Press, on the other hand, recommends half-mast in all cases.

HALF AND HALF

Like a flag fluttering midway up a pole, the division between the two countries appears fairly clear – at least based on the positions outlined above.

But some Canadian media outlets refuse to embrace half-mast the way the CBC and CP have.

A section of the Globe and Mail's 1998 Style Book, for example, resembles the AP entry: "Use half-mast only to refer to ships".

Other newspapers in the country's biggest city appear divided. The day after Trudeau died, the Toronto Star described a flag on Parliament Hill being lowered to half-staff. On the same page, a Canadian sports official was quoted using the term half-mast to refer to Maple Leaf flags at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.

The National Post also slipped both terms into one story. A reporter wrote: "Flags were flying half-staff on Parliament Hill. The Canadian flag in the Olympic athletes' village, in Sydney, Australia, also flew at half-mast."

EN BERNE

One of the e-mail complaints cited at the beginning of this column points out that "Mr. Trudeau would have known the difference" between half-staff and half-mast.

That's probably true, since his government ordered Canadian flags to fly at half-mast more than once over the years. Trudeau was undoubtedly also familiar with the French equivalent.

Although the direct translation of half-mast is à mi-mât, Ottawa's official term is actually en berne.

Does this shore up the attack against masts on land? Well, not really.

En berne is also nautical, dating back to the 1600s. It comes from an old Dutch word (berm), which meant the "edge" or "rim" of a ship – perhaps because a flag being lowered would sometimes droop and roll, taking on a curled up shape that reminded sailors of their vessel's side.

CONCLUSION

Words often have more than one meaning. Take spear and spur, which some dictionaries believe spawned spar.

On a ship, a mast is sometimes called a spar. Does that make it wrong to spar with someone on land? The answer is no, unless the fight is over alleged misuse of the term half-mast. In that case, it's probably best not to battle at all.

That's because mast escaped the narrow confines of a naval vessel centuries ago. Oxford defines it as "a tall pole or other structure set upright for any purpose; especially a flag-pole." Most other dictionaries offer similar descriptions.

When flags are flown we show our colours. Even though color is another version of the same word, CBC News Online prefers to include the u.

Language authorities tell us that half-staff and half-mast are synonymous. But for the same reason we don't switch between colour and color on a whim, Canada's public broadcaster decided to pick one term to describe flags that have been lowered to honour the dead.

Half-mast was chosen by the CBC years ago. It is also the official wording used by Parliament. (The White House prefers color and half-staff.)

The selection of half-mast isn't so much a matter of being right. It's more a case of style – staying consistent, and Canadian.