Getting Irate So That You Don't Have To

Getting Irate So That You Don't Have To

Friday 7 March 2008

Eh...?

Much as I enjoy writing, I'm no great reader and I never have been. This means that my volcabulary isn't as good as it should be for a womble of my age. But even so, I can't believe I'm the only one struggling with Nick Clegg's latest description of British politics. "Sclerotic" ?

A visit to dictionary.com doesn't help much. The nearest I can get is "Affected or marked by sclerosis", which itself is defined as a "morbid hardening of the tissue".

For the record, the full quote is as follows. "When you have a system that is as sclerotic as this - tied up between the two parties - it is quite right for a principled party such as the Liberal Democrats, which believes in political reform from saying, from time to time, 'hang on, this is an absolute joke'''.

Can any better-read people elucidate, please ?

On a slightly different point, I think it might have been a mistake to utter the words "Liberal Democrats", "principled party", and "joke" in the same sentence.

1 comment:

nuttycow said...

My understanding of the word "sclerosis" is a curvature of the back eventually leading to a hunch. Hence I would suggest his quote makes *no* sense whatsoever.