PC is the Criteria, OK

Said a spokesman (not a spokesperson, please note) for Bristol City Council recently (concerning a Boys’ Club that won’t get a grant unless it’s open to girls as well) “The criteria is that if you want funds . . .”

It would be a good thing if spokespeople only spoke with words they understood. If they insist that polysyllabic Greek- or Latin-derived words somehow sound more impressive or official than simpler and more familiar ones, then they should at least have to gain a qualification in Advanced Spokespersonship before being allowed to use them.

‘Criteria’ is actually a plural word, whether in Greek or English. ‘Criterion’ is the singular. Those who are not sure of the difference would do well to say instead “The rule is that . . .”

But even the simple E word ‘rule’ (adapted from French in pre-Shakespearian times) is not an Old English word, but is derived from Latin regula meaning a wooden ruler for drawing or setting straight lines. The Anglo-Saxons had a word lagu, itself borrowed from Old Norse, which evolved into English ‘law’. This gap in the old Germanic vocabulary seems to suggest that our distant ancestors may have been unruly and lawless.

PC is the Criteria, OK