Madam, - Once again I have heard a politician misuse the word "refute". Today it was that lovable signer of blank cheques, the current president of the EU.
To some extent, members of the media are complicit in this misuse because they never challenge these imbeciles when they say they "refute" something. Refute does not merely mean deny, it does not even mean rebut. Refute means to prove wrong. I'm afraid that just because the leader of Fianna Fáil says something isn't so, that is not proof it is not so.
So please, journalists, the next time one of these chancers says he refutes something, ask him how. - Yours, etc.,
GODFREY SHAW, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7.