I was annoyed to read the thoughts of a political reporter who believed the prime minister had failed to barter a good Brexit agreement.
I will save my opinions on the performance of politicians until I am in a voting booth, and I wish more people would do the same, but I cannot allow this ridiculous use of the word “barter” to pass.
Barter is the exchange of goods without money being involved. Boris Johnson did not approach the EU offering two dozen eggs and a bushel of corn in exchange for a solution to the Irish backstop.
Barter does not mean the same as haggle, which is to argue over cost or, in this instance, terms.
It is one of these words that is often misused. There are other examples all around us every day. This morning I heard “brandishing” used, when “burnishing” was the word meant. Disinterested and uninterested are very different, as are flaunt and flout, fortuitous and fortunate, founder and flounder.
One word that is abused rather often is “epicentre”. I’ve almost come to expect that TV news reporters will use this, thinking it is the very centre of the centre or the place where something started: “The riot’s epicentre was a street corner in Barcelona”, for instance.
Epicentre is a geological term for the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake. That is its only meaning. Any other use is incorrect.
Pedants like me get quite upset by this sort of thing. I constantly check the definitions of words I hear or read and have several “apps” on my phone to help with this. I would be hugely embarrassed to use a word incorrectly.
One of the more infamous examples, although the incident has been greatly exaggerated over the years, is the “attack” on the home of a doctor by individuals who didn’t know the difference between “paediatrician” and “paedophile”.
This happened in 2000, although the extent was that “paedo” was spray-painted on a paediatrics doctor’s house in South Wales. The story has, regrettably, been blown up to the extent that you might hear it re-told as an angry mob chasing the poor doctor out of town. That didn’t happen.
But the extent of the ignorance shown in the original, true, version of the story should be enough to convince us all that we should check our understanding of fairly simple terminology before carrying out acts of sneak-vandalism.
Word of the week
Persiflage (noun)
Light mockery. People who continually misuse words deserve persiflage, and persuasion to abandon the use of spray paint.
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
