Fiscal Chips
English spelling has a horrible, intractably broken, historically perverse system of spelling. We all know it. The American know-it-all Benjamin Franklin knew it.
Goodness knows my spelling isn’t always perfect, and I can’t fault Senator Fielding for spelling “fiscal” wrong:
Recently, Senator Fielding has frequently mispronounced “fiscal policy” as “physical policy”. Speaking to journalists this morning he was questioned about the mispronunciation.
“I’ll make it quite clear: fiscal, F-I-S-K-A-L,” he spelt.
It’s one of those words that probably is set for ESL students as anti-malapropism spelling practice exactly because of the easiness of confusion. Physical/fiscal; he knows what he meant, and so do we.
Being unable to spell without error in front of a media pack, like a seal or an awkward, embarrassed North American child, is not a skill that should be expected of our representatives. It’s quite a different thing to be a bad speller, which is nothing discreditable, as to be an unskilled, confused, lazy thinker and a terrible, terrible political tactician, which is something to be regretted in a minor party Senator. A bit of dignity wouldn’t go astray either.
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