Opinion Joyce Wyllie

The troubled wool industry is about to hit another crisis as shearers seek a 25 per cent pay rise.

Shearing itself is facing trying times as more workers have to go to Australia to make a good living, and the workforce is steadily ageing.

The New Zealand Shearers Contractors Association (NZSCA) has recommended workers’ pay and entitlements improve by up to 25 per cent, to come into effect on July 1.

Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman Miles Anderson said he had sympathy for the shearers’ claims, even if they would come at a cost to farmers.

‘‘We understand why they are doing it. I don’t begrudge anyone in the shearing industry wanting more.

‘‘It’s a skilled job and a tough one.’’

Anderson said many farmers were making little if anything from wool, and often shearing came at a cost.

President of the NZSCA Mark Barrowcliffe said the recommendation had come after looking at the issues facing shearing, including lifting recruitment and retention rates, improving training opportunities and leading new standards in health and safety.

Pedantic it may be, but calling things by correct names is important to me. As a vet and a mum, body parts and sex organs are always identified by recognised anatomical words. Usually it avoids confusion but occasionally sounds off-key in non rural ears.

Travelling on a Hong Kong bus with a group of good church people I saw a female dog running down the footpath with the result of rearing multiple pups swinging low under her belly. The company fell embarrassingly silent when I commented to the lady next to me, ‘‘goodness look at the tits on that poor bitch’’.

Misnomers regularly sneak into our vocabulary. Many words don’t convey correct meanings. Recently, ‘‘police chases ‘‘ have been in the news but that’s not what they are at all. They’re really driver escapes. If the vehicle had not sped off the police wouldn’t need to chase.

Every time I open our fridge at the moment there’s an annoying, glaring misnomer. On the shelf sits ‘‘soy milk’’ as we have a friend staying who is lactose intolerant.

The definition of milk is: An opaque white fluid rich in fat and protein, secreted by female mammals for the nourishment of their young. Whereas this stuff