Making our speech shorter and simpler

Sir, – Spurred by the recent letter bemoaning the meaningless tag “in terms of”, may I add another phrase to the list of examples of inflated speech? “In relation to” has now reached epidemic proportions. Why the seven syllables of “in relation to”, when the simple word “on” has just one syllable?

So, please, politicians, broadcasters and journalists, let’s hear no more about policy “in relation to” crime; just discuss the policy “on” crime – or whatever the related topic is. Yours, etc,

BRIAN ROGERS,

Castleknock Park,

Dublin 15