Words are a wonderful thing. Sometimes they even help communication. Terry Pratchett, super-prolific and well-known and (I reckon) quite wonderful fantasy writer and astute observer of the human condition, writes of one of his characters in a recent book ‘Making money’ (P 81):
“Too, late, he saw the signs. Hubert grasped the lapels of his jacket, as if addressing a meeting, and swelled with the urge to communicate, or at least talk at length in the belief that it was the same thing.”
And to provide a contrast to that delightful comment about the use of words, here is a beauty. In a recent newspaper article a certain former deputy governor of a certain bank in a certain country was asked about money that was given by his bank to members of parliament of a certain country. He said: yes, this was in fact the case. And the reason he gave was this:
“The money was needed to support a political settlement to address the disclaimer status given to the bank in a financial report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) related to BI liquidity support (BLBI) funds.”
If you have any idea what this means, please let me know.