Saturday, February 19, 2011

The word of the day is fatuous:


< Latin fatu-us foolish, silly, insipid + -ous suffix. 

 1. Of persons, their actions, feelings, utterances, etc.: Foolish, vacantly silly, stupid, besotted.  (OED)


"Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves? And who are these volunteers? Who are these people whose lives are so empty, whose time spreads out in front of them like the limitless steppes of central Asia, who have no families to look after, no jobs to do, no responsibilities of any sort, and yet are so wealthy that they can commit hours of their time every week to working for nothing? Who are these volunteers? Do you know anyone who could volunteer their time in this way? If there’s anyone who has the time and the energy to work for nothing in a good cause, they are probably already working for one of the voluntary sector day centres or running a local football team or helping out with the league of friends in a hospital. What’s going to make them stop doing that and start working in a library instead?"

 - Philip Pullman, "Leave the libraries alone.  You don't understand their value", 20 January 2011

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