Mea Culpa: Some readers are still interested in ‘disinterested’

We used “disinterest” to mean “lack of interest” twice this week. There is nothing wrong with that, except that some readers think there is, which means that we ought to avoid it. This injunction probably won’t apply for more than another decade or so. The Oxford dictionary already lists “lack of interest” as a second meaning of the word, and points out that the earliest use of “disinterested” was in the sense that some pedants now insist should be “uninterested” – that is, not interested.

Thanks to Steven Fogel for pointing out that we said the threat to contemporary art “is no longer disinterest but commerce”, and on another occasion that “usually women’s sport is treated with disinterest or ridicule”.

Steven thought that The Independent more than any other title should want to defend the word’s original meaning of “impartiality”. It used to mean “not having an interest in” something, and therefore being objective or unbiased.

Of course, the language is changing, but it is best to be aware of what it is changing from so that we don’t annoy or distract the reader.

Mixed fudge: The Brexit imbroglio has stimulated a cottage industry in the production of metaphors, so it is hardly surprising if some of them become mixed. In an editorial this week we said: “There is a lazy assumption that this sort of fudge is how Brussels does business, and that nothing much ever gets agreed before a hard deadline actually stares the diplomats and politicians in the face.” In my mind I see a display cabinet of fudge being stared at by ... a hard deadline, and at this point the image ceases to make sense.

Henry Newman of the Open Europe think tank has appealed for an end to Brexit metaphors, pointing out that none of them is accurate: we have had cake and eating it; moving house without looking round the new place; and leaving a golf club while wanting to use its facilities.

Enough.

Practically perfect: It seems a little ungenerous to cavil at our magnificent review of Mary Poppins Returns, the homage to the 1964 classic – “not so much a sequel as an updated remake” – but I did stumble over “the end credits last a small eternity”. Perhaps the theory of general relativity allows for different sizes of infinite.

Seasonal goodwill: Congratulations to Chiara Giordano, one of our reporters, who wrote a weather report about the forecast of snow and ice this weekend without using the words “conditions” – whether “Arctic” or otherwise – and “travel chaos”. Instead we had a factual report about expected temperatures below freezing and a warning of possible “delays or cancellations to bus, rail and air services”. Hats off.