Monday, July 09, 2007

Hoisted with their own PC petard

Dear me. I confess to having something in common with the Prime Minister. I have recently used the word "leper" in a way which is apparently offensive to the 30 million lepers of the world.

The Leprosy Mission New Zealand is reeling over Prime Minister Helen Clark’s recent, insensitive use of the word ‘leper’in her comments as reported by TV One on Sunday, which is likely to offend over 30 million people who are affected by leprosy worldwide.

The Prime Minister was reported by Guyon Espiner of TV One News as saying that the self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, will be “treated something like a leper” if he attends the South Pacific Forum meetings.


However, the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'leper' as "Person shunned on moral grounds." Will the PM apologise? It would appear the left sometimes get hoisted on their own PC petard.

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