§ 25. Mr. Peytonasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs What is meant by the word "premiated" as used in paragraph 5 of his Department's circular number 14/62; and if he will give an assurance that it will not be used again.
§ Mr. RipponPremiated schemes are schemes for which prizes have been awarded. I note my hon. Friend's dislike of this venerable word.
§ Mr. PeytonWould my hon. Friend be altogether surprised if I were to say that I do not feel greatly premiated by that Answer? Will he try to put about the quite novel and revolutionary idea that these circulars are meant to impart information and are not an exercise in unseen translation? To revert to words described in the dictionary as being of 1547 vintage is not the way the Government should address people. They should make their meaning clear.
§ Mr. RipponIt is unfair to suggest that this word is of 1547 vintage. I have traced the use of it as recently as 1892 in an article in the Athenaeum.
§ Mr. PeytonPerhaps my hon. Friend would be good enough to look up the larger Oxford English Dictionary—foe might even consult the editors—because there its use is described as "very rare". Will he bear in mind that it is desirable to impart information and not to conceal meanings?
§ Mr. RipponI think that it would be a tragedy if we exorcised from the English dictionary a word used by Western Europeans, including Boccaccio, for milennia. In making this suggestion, my hon. Friend does not do justice to the education establishment which he attended. However, if he feels strongly about it, I assure him that we shall try to decant it from some of the housing circulars dealing with obsolescence.
§ Mr. M. StewartIf "premiated" means someone to whom a prize is awarded, is the hon. Gentleman aware that he and his colleagues are the most dispremiated people in the country?
§ Mr. RipponI do not think I will award the hon. Gentleman a prize for that one.