Seed change or Sea Change?

[EllenRose]

At work I hear people using each version to describe required change but which is correct?

As far as I know, it is definitely sea change as in Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel.

To be honest, I have never heard anyone say seed change.

You'd be amazed SoniaGluck , which is why I questioned it because I have heard it so often - but then I also work with many who use pacifically too!

Never ever heard seed change. It's definitely sea change.

Ellen I wouldn't really be surprised if I did hear someone say seed change since I have heard of people being put on pedal stools and that things are part of the course. It's just I never have.

It's easy enough to mishear and, if you never see the word / phrase written down, you might never realise that you've got it wrong.

I think you must work in a nursery.

Yes sea change. I think it's Shakespearian - from The Tempest IIRC.

Yes sea change. I think it's Shakespearian - from The Tempest IIRC.

It's a beautiful expression from The Tempest - Ferdinand's father died in a storm at sea, and Ariel sings a song to comfort him, telling him that his body has been changed by the sea into a beautiful and precious object. So it refers to a gradual change, where the form's the same, but the substance is different (and maybe more precious and beautiful?):
""Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange,"

Pretty, innit?

...and so a bit disappointing when people use it to refer to something being 'a bit different'.

You could probably think of the two terms in this fashion:

Sea-change = Gradual change (body taken by the sea, slowly sinks to the bottom, bones gradually turn into a coral reef, eyes become pearls over time, etc.)

Seed change = sudden or dramatic shift (as in crop rotation; one year its corn and then, bam, the next year its strawberries).