Easily my biggest pet peeve with language occurs at celebrations. On cakes, to be specific.

Nothing irks me more than seeing a direct-address wish in icing without the appropriate (and necessary) comma.

It should be "Happy Birthday, Jeffrey" -- not "Happy Birthday Jeffrey." It should be "Congratulations, Phyllis" instead of the abomination that is "Congratulations Phyllis."

If the iced wish intends to address a person or a group, a comma needs to precede said person/group.

For instance, a cake reading "Welcome Back, Kotter" would imply the cake bearer's welcoming to Kotter. On the other hand, had the cake read "Welcome Back Kotter," the bearer seems to be instructing others to welcome Kotter back.

I'm not mandating bakeries to require its icing employees to carry an English degree from Oxford. Just recognize the necessity of the comma, folks, and you can have your cake and eat it, too.

-- TODD OSLEGER, Donora

Wayne Gregor made a very good point last week in taking exception to my Feb. 8 suggestion to use friends rather than folks when addressing an audience ("When You Hear 'Friends,' Watch Your Wallet," Feb. 27 Word Watch). "A speaker should not presume that every member of the audience is a friend," he wrote.

I do thank him for approving of my suggestion that "ladies and gentlemen" is appropriate.

Yet, looking up the word in the dictionary, I found the word lady to apply to those who are "members of the peerage, high estate, with gentle manners or one receiving homage from a knight." Well, that really means we are assuming a lot when we address an audience of women as "ladies."

Gentlemen refers to men "belonging to the landed gentry, who have chivalrous qualities and who do not engage in any occupation or profession for gain." Well, that too would assume a great deal when addressing an audience of men as "gentlemen."

Why not coin the all-encompassing mode of address of Julius Caesar: "Friends, Romans" -- we could change it to "Pittsburghers" -- "Countrymen, lend me your ears"?

I have been paying more attention to this topic. I still hear anchormen and -women, politicians (even Sen. John Kerry) and others address people as "folks." I now do not believe they are assuming anything, nor do I believe they are talking down to people. I now think it is just an Americanism. (I was born in Britain and though I have lived in North America for over half of my life, I am still getting used to them.)

Like Hillary Clinton taking back her vote to go to war with Iraq, I take back my Feb. 8 vote against "folks." I also, like Barack Obama, "reject and denounce" having ever brought up the subject.

-- THERESE MCKENZIE, Bridgeville

Thank you and amen, Earl L. Brown, for your objection to "Feb-YOO-ere-ee"! ("Forget April. THIS is the Cruelest Month for Earl L. Brown," Feb. 27 Word Watch.) Lately, I have heard the month of FebRUary said that way by TV anchors whom I respect very much, and I am horrified.

At least it tends to be seasonal.

But one of my pet peeves is heard all year: "Artic" and "Anartica" instead of Arctic and Antarctica.

Like Mr. Brown, I was drilled in these words in grade school. Isn't that done any longer?

-- PAT SADLER, McCandless

In response to Earl. L. Brown's despair over the near-universal mispronunciation of "February," I want to assure him that I am one of that growing minority of people who pronounce it correctly. I have yet to hear any broadcaster pronounce it correctly so it is unlikely that pronunciation will improve.

I wonder if Mr. Brown would be eligible to join a society of which I am the founder and president. It is the Save the Terminal "G" Society.

We don't have any meetin's and there is no payin' of dues. Should you come to a meeting be advised that sleepin' and snorin' are forbidden.

Sadly none of my daughters is eligible for membership.

-- DONALD J. GILBERT, Mt. Lebanon