Today’s English rant is about the occasional confusion writers display in using the word replete in place of the more appropriate word complete.
To date, I have not heard the word replete used correctly, and until I looked it up in a dictionary, had no idea of its meaning. The character Matthew in the 1994 movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, describes his late partner Gareth as having been replete. I have no clue what he could have meant by this.
The next time I stumbled across the word was just the other day on the English website for the Likud faction Manhigut Yehudit (the Jewish Leadership Movement). Under the heading, "The secular roots of Zionism," is the following sentence: "Miraculously, the Zionist movement succeeded in building the complete infrastructure of a modern state—replete with a strong army, high tech, immigration absorption etc. out of the wilderness."
Thinking that the word complete sounded more natural than replete in this context, I headed for the dictionary. Indeed, the American Heritage (which I like for its frequent acknowledgment of the rampant misuse of words) defines the commonly used word complete as follows: adj. 1. Having all necessary or normal parts; entire; whole. 2. Botany. Having all characteristic floral parts, including sepals, petals, stamens, and a pistil. 3. Concluded; ended. 4. Thorough; consummate; perfect.
And what, you may ask, is the definition of replete? Adj. 1. Plentifully supplied; abounding. Used with with. 2. Filled to satiation; gorged. Usage. Replete stresses great abundance. It is not the equivalent of complete or equipped (with), for which replete is often used loosely.
So in other words, the coffee brand Chock Full O’ Nuts could be described as replete with nuts, since abundance is clearly implied here. However, to say that the Zionist Paradise is replete with an army and high tech is hyperbolic; and while Israel has successfully absorbed millions of Jews from the rest of the world, one still hears kvetching from the government and the Jewish Agency that not enough Jews are choosing Israel over their home countries.
So why did the writer of this position paper choose the low road in using replete? Possibilities include the following:
1. The writer is primarily a Hebrew speaker and just muffed this one. (Not likely; there are plenty of English speakers in Manhigut Yehudit, and aside from this gaffe, this one wrote fairly competently.)
2. He’d already used complete earlier in the sentence and didn’t want to be repetitive. (Quite possible.)
3. The two words sound similar enough that they must mean the same thing. (Not logical—and not true in this case—but certainly possible.)
4. Everyone else is doing it, so why not? (I have no response to this, except to say, "If everyone else were eating eyeball soup, would you join in?")
This rant plays nicely into my new motto regarding word use: "Look it up before you f*** it up."
professionals who find themselves the victims of parental "involvement" in their students’ education. A "helicopter parent" goes beyond being concerned about his or her children’s development and education and rushes "to prevent any harm or failure from befalling them and will not let them learn from their own mistakes, sometimes even contrary to the children’s wishes." This apparently includes calling college professors to complain about their child’s grade in class, and even employers to try to negotiate their children’s salaries. Remember the Israeli soldier who got 21 days in the clink, and his mother’s claim to have called and complained to his commanders? Painful as it is, this helps explain the section below Wikipedia’s definition, "See also: Jewish mother stereotype." Incidentally, some parents’ behavior even goes beyond the "helicopter parenting" definition of being a nudge and a pest, and enters the unethical zone of writing their children’s college application essays for them. This type of parent is dubbed a "Black Hawk parent" (after the military aircraft). 
Shimshonit 