Q: Occasionally, I send a tweet or post a comment elsewhere on social media regarding someone or something I don't like. I don't know whether I should write, "No love lost here" or "No love loss here." Can you address this for us tweeters? — Naomi Walls, Aurora, Colo.

A: Tweeters sometimes express negative opinions? My stars!

In the spirit of tweeting, I'll try to be as gentle as I can in responding to "no love loss." Faaahhgetaboutit!

The standard idiom is "no love lost," meaning there's deep hostility between two people, or, in your case, between you and something you dislike. The concept is that there's no love to be lost because there was never any love to begin with.

Interestingly, when the expression "no love lost" first appeared during the 1500s, it could refer either to extreme hatred or extreme love. An English poem published in 1765, for instance, contains this line: "No love between these two was lost, each was to the other kind."

But since about 1800, "no love lost" has been used almost exclusively to mean "hostility."

Q: Please clarify which is the correct term — "anyways" or "anyway" — when used in the same context. — Rajeev, via email

A: "Anyways," a dialectical variant of "anyway," is much more common in speech than in writing. It's often used at the beginning of a sentence to mean "as I was saying" or "moving on to another subject."

Usage expert Bryan Garner classifies "anyways" as a "Stage 3" term on his "Language-Change Index," meaning the form has become commonplace even among many well-educated people but is still avoided in careful usage.

Q: I'm seeking the origin of the term "brand-new." Is it something the advertising community started many decades back? — Omer Nelson, Sioux Falls, S.D.

A: That's it; blame it on the advertising industry! Ever since "Mad Men" debuted, people have been unfairly accusing Don Draper and company of inventing everything from ring around the collar to waxy yellow buildup to dry mouth... Wait a minute; they DID invent these problems!

But they didn't invent "brand-new." In this phrase, which dates to the 1500s, "brand" means "fire" or "burning." So an item, such as a clay pot or a metal tool, fresh from the kiln or furnace where it had just been fired or forged, was said to be "brand-new."

Blacksmith's advertising jingle from the 1500s:

"The burning forge is where we form

Our brand-new horseshoes; they're still warm!"

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.