Make Your Editor Cry: Breach vs. Breech
A breach is a break — whether it’s a breach in contract or a breach in a dam. A breach is a violation of a law, duty, or promise. Lawyers like it because they can help if there’s a breach of the law. Whales break free from the water when they breach, but no one wants them to breach the side of a boat.
A breech, double “e,” is an opening at back of the gun. The breech is the opening in a gun where cartridges (or powder and bullets) are loaded. It’s also the word for hindquarters. So, the breech is near the butt of a gun, but it’s also sometimes the buttocks of a human being. in a breech birth, a baby comes out feet, or hindquarters, first. Breeches, or britches, is also the old word for pants. You can still get breeches, though, for horseback riding.
If you break a contract, or whales breaking the surface it’s a breach. If you’re talking about pantaloons, guns, or feet-first babies, use breech with a double “e.”
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.