READERS’ WORDS

I have never been able to look at a spider in the same way since I saw this sentence: “I was bitten by a spider in a red bathing suit.” Hilarious. — Sibongile Tshabalala I have long been puzzled by the ubiquitous signs reading “Disabled Parking”. What is disabled about the parking? — Penny Boaden The Gauteng Legislature has numerous banners on the old Johannesburg City Hall, in which they proudly proclaim “Socio-economic development through oversight ...”. If an oversight is an unintentional failure to notice or do something, are they admitting they are not doing something, or is it just an “oversight” on their part? — Dave Ducie Who decided “going forward” was the preferable synonym for “in future”? I dinged my car reversing out of the driveway. Will I have to be more careful when reversing, going forward? — Neville Barber Institutions allude to “Skills Development”, but the word skill is plural in its original form. “The skill required to fly a plane” sounds better than “the skills required to fly a plane”. I would rather say, “Skill Development”. — Cyprian Mulenga Re: last week’s readers’ words: A letter writer used the word “aggravating” [which means “worsening”]. I think “annoying” or “irritating” would have been more appropriate. Do you believe that the extensive incorrect use of “aggravating” is leading to an accepted change in the meaning of the word? I know that my mother used to “annoy” me as she found so many things “aggravating”. — David Campbell