Quango

I believe that a rose by any name would smell as sweet [H.T.W.S], but something in the back of my brain, at the same level where superstitions are kept, makes me feel that certain words are just better, more appropriate, more powerful even, simply because of the way they sound. I have already mentioned "gazump and gazunder", delightful words for nasty practices that any prospective homebuyer (or seller) should understand. Here is a piece in the Scotsman on quango kings and queens, which concerns the inevitable horde of imitation do-gooders and chest-thumpers who tend to appear near any government financial spigots. (Which reminds me. Spigot and faucet are also great words, but I've never understood the precise distinction between them.) Opposition candidates in the UK have apparently been calling for a "bonfire of the quangos" for some years now, but getting little traction.

6/13/2005 8:22 PM