What columnists say

I refer to Anthony Licari's letter Physician Heal Thyself in answer to my brief comment of February 8 about his column.

I did not in any way suggest "that an obligatory correlation must exist between profession and expression". However, now that he mentions it, why does Dr Licari invariably include at the foot of his column the fact that he teaches psycho/socio/geolinguistics at the University of Malta if not to impress the average reader with his credentials and to seek to add a modicum of credibility to the snippets that he writes?

I practise a profession which is at a par if not higher than Dr Licari's, but I only use my credentials when I am expressing an opinion about a topic in the sphere I am involved in. I wouldn't dream of using my credentials to boost a critique about the dress sense of our "government politicians" (something linguistically wrong there).

And how about this for "clumsy delivery"? "Government politicians are, for the moment, the representatives of Malta as a country and nation when they go abroad. All Maltese have the right to offer them their opinion on the necessity of a smart personal appearance especially in international situations. If they are representing us in a meeting in another country, you and I have the duty to expect of them a smart appearance. Now let's start with the suits some wear. They do not fit them well and are hardly elegant. I don't know in which village market they buy them, but I wouldn't buy mine in the same public haberdashery. Their ties often do not match their shirts and sometimes they are creased. I believe that their wives could take a good look at them before they go out and yell at them: 'Oy! Where do you think you're going like that?'" (February 3). This from somebody who teaches linguistics!

Does The Times really pay this man for writing this stuff?