Blazonry Language So Obscure Even Heralds Admit They Sometimes Guess

A confidential survey of practicing heralds has revealed that nearly forty percent have, at some point in their careers, approximated or guessed at the meaning of a blazonry term rather than admitting ignorance, according to results published this week by the Journal of Heraldic Studies. The survey, which guaranteed anonymity, posed questions about familiarity with obscure heraldic terminology. While common terms like 'rampant,' 'passant,' and 'quarterly' were universally understood, more specialized vocabulary proved challenging. Forty-three percent of respondents admitted uncertainty about the precise meaning of 'engrailed' versus 'invected.' Thirty-seven percent expressed confusion about the distinction between 'jessant-de-lis' and 'a fleur-de-lis issuant from.' And a remarkable sixty-one percent confessed to having 'no confident understanding' of the term 'gyronny of sixteen.' 'I have been a herald for twenty-two years,' wrote one anonymous respondent. 'I still cannot reliably distinguish between a pile and a pall without looking it up. I have simply arranged my career to avoid situations where the distinction matters.' Another respondent admitted to once describing a charge as 'a sort of wavy cross thing' during a consultation, 'which is technically not blazonry but did communicate the essential information.' The survey's author, Dr. Helena Purpure, said the findings should not be interpreted as evidence of professional failure. 'The language of blazonry contains over 3,000 specialized terms accumulated over eight centuries,' she noted. 'No one knows all of them. The important thing is that everyone pretends to, which preserves institutional confidence.' The College of Arms declined to comment on the survey, noting that 'all officers of arms are fully trained in the language of blazonry,' a statement that sixty-one percent of those officers apparently dispute.