Vocabulary

Pity poor David Howard. Although he has been reinstated by Washington Mayor Anthony Williams (“Mayor’s Aide Rehired After Flap Over Word,” Feb. 4), he suffers from a terminal disease. He has an extensive vocabulary that includes words which his ill-educated colleagues interpret as racial (i.e. “niggardly”).

Will he last long in the racially hypersensitive, politically correct world of American public life? Fat chance! (No offense to any “weight-challenged” persons intended.) He is already suspect. Sooner or later he will use another perfectly good English word like “chink” or “niggle” and he will be gone. Perhaps there is still hope. Mayor Williams could order all city employees to take vocabulary-building classes. But I think it is a lost cause.

JOHN HORNE

Redondo Beach