Sir, – I’m strongly in agreement with the sentiments of Eoin Burke-Kennedy regarding the expurgation of our language (Business, August 18th). I hate to see rich and potent idioms deemed unusable on the basis that, if somebody, somewhere might find them offensive, then everybody, everywhere must stop using them. I was amused then that the expert he consulted from the Plain English Campaign group described this as a linguistic “minefield”. There must be many people around the world for whom that concept might have once proved “triggering” and not just in the sense of “upsetting”. Which is, I would argue, why it’s a powerful and vivid metaphor. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.