Aspiring to use the right words

11:40am Thursday 8th May 2008

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In last week's letter, Mike Mycroft seems confused between the meanings of words and their context.

The slogan "we prescribe to treating customers fairly" is patently nonsensical; not because of the word "prescribe" but because of its context. "Prescribe" means to recommend or authorise so it's not surprising to find the Financial Services Authority using the word in the context of recommended financial products. A cursory search of their website indicates that they do not however, use it in the context as used by Mr Mycroft's window poster.

How the sentence "we prescribe to treating customers fairly" can be interpreted is vexing. Perhaps the perpetrator of this gobbledegook means "We aspire to treating customers fairly" or "We recommend products that will be a fair deal"; who knows? A clue might be in his incorrect use of the word "conjecture" in his published letter; clearly he means "juncture". Notwithstanding his use of "sic" to indicate deliberate mistakes in usage he really has a bad case of malapropism; and no, this is not Trussian pedantry, this is about good communication.

PS I'm not the "nutter" who complained about the poster but the "nutter" is absolutely right.

Dr Nick Price, Marton

• Editor's note: The use of sic' in Mr Mycroft's letter was ours, not his.