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Last week, we examined the English idiom "Birds of a feather flock together", which means that people who are of similar backgrounds and interests tend to stick together and become friends, or tend to become friends and stick together, whichever comes first. Today, let's examine friends and friendships in reply to a reader question.

The Question: What is the difference between "a buddy" and "a crony", if there is any?

A buddy is a friend. A crony is also a friend, especially a long term friend.

A buddy, informal, is just a friend, someone every man and woman has and wants to hang out with.

A crony on the other hand connotes more than friendliness in its usual sense. A crony is often a long term business associate. Friendships between cronies are not always innocent.

Friendship itself is a mutual term, referring to the friendliness with which people seek out each other's company and help in times of need.

Friendship between cronies, however, can be a warm bed to grow cronyism.

Cronyism, a term almost always used derogatorily, refers to the practice (in politics, for example) of appointing long-standing friends to a public office with little or no regard for their qualifications.

Examples of cronyism abound in ever corners of the earth, in this country and elsewhere. The practice must be as old as society itself.

Take US President George Bush for an example.

When Bush plays golf with his buddies, it is a simple question of friends enjoying each other's company, and competition if they are good at the game.

But when Bush nominated Harriet Miers, a long-time personal advisor to be a Supreme Court Judge, Bush was suspected of cronyism.

Miers, 60, is a lawyer who has never served as a judge. She eventually withdrew her nomination after it became apparent that she could not garner enough support in the confirmation process.

This report from the BBC (October 27, 2005):

US top court nominee steps down

The Texas lawyer nominated to the US Supreme Court by President George W Bush, Harriet Miers, has withdrawn as a nominee to the court.

Ms Miers, who has served as White House counsel for Mr Bush but has no judicial experience, has come in for criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
...
Democrat opponents accused the president of cronyism, pointing to personal memos sent during Mr Bush's days as governor of Texas as evidence that her friendship with the president was her chief qualification for the job.
...

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.