"late of <place name>" old fashioned phrase... am I using it right?

rosehips

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Just a quick question, figured I'd ask it here as I think you need to have some experience with older texts to be sure of how to use this phrase right.

If my character is asking, "Are you related to so-and-so, late of Made Up Place?" is she saying that so-and-so used to live there, or died there, or something else? Should it be "lately of Made Up Place" instead?

I'm making a point in this fantasy novel of there being different dialects depending on where someone is from and what their class is. This character is upper class and I'm working to polish her voice to make it sound very upper crust.
 

Duncan J Macdonald

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Just a quick question, figured I'd ask it here as I think you need to have some experience with older texts to be sure of how to use this phrase right.

If my character is asking, "Are you related to so-and-so, late of Made Up Place?" is she saying that so-and-so used to live there, or died there, or something else? Should it be "lately of Made Up Place" instead?

My read is that So-and-so used to live in Made Up Place until quite recently, but is still alive.
 

Bren McDonnall

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Late of is usually the way you describe yourself. Occasionally, though, when introducing someone. "Allow me to introduce my friend, John Westley Smythington Smythe, late of Blighty and points eastward."

If you're asking about someone, you'd be more likely to ask, "Might you be related to so and so of such and such?"

It's in my head, also, that you're more likely to no longer live in a place you're 'late of'. "Late of", would be the last place you lived, and you'd probably only recently have moved to wherever it is you're standing. At least to the best of my recollection.
 

L. OBrien

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I've never heard "late of place" used before, but the way that Bren's example put in context clues, it was pretty clear it meant that person X lives at location Y. Even without them, I was pretty sure it was a roundabout way of saying "from" and not "btw, he's dead."
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Late of [place] means the person (usually still living, unless indicated otherwise) USED to live in [place].

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal