Dictionary corner

Sir, – As your reader Brian Ahern (Letters, April 30th) is commending Pat Leahy on his use of the word fissiparous (Opinion & Analysis, April 27th), might I commend Mr Ahern on using an actual dictionary as opposed to doing an online search. I suspect there are few of us left. – Yours, etc,

JOAN SHEFFIELD,

Dalkey,

Co Dublin.

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Sir, – Further to Pat Leahy’s column “Left-wing Government looks increasingly unlikely”, where he describes the left-wing parties and TDs in the Dáil as being scattered and fissiparous, the only place I came across the word before was in Diarmaid Ferriter’s book The Transformation of Ireland 1900 to 2000, where he quotes Sean Lemass as saying that the Irish people needed strong central government “because of their fissiparous tendencies”.

To save other readers scurrying to the dictionary, the word means “tending to break up into groups or factions”. – Yours, etc,

JACK MONTGOMERY,

Dundalk,

Co Louth.