You’re reading the paid-for edition of The Ink - curated community news straight to your inbox in association with Swindon Link. Having upgraded to paid, you are supporting the most exciting and ambitious media venture in the South West enabling us to keep you informed and up to date with everything Swindon. By subscribing you have given us the ability to send news analysis, updates and features direct to your inbox. We always welcome feedback so please let us know how we are doing in the comments. And please tell your friends and families about us as every new subscriber makes us stronger.
If you are a free subscriber you will only be able to read the first part of this briefing which means you’ll miss out on the entire article.
Upgrade now and get your first month free. The ultimate try before you buy.
It only costs £5.99 a month - less than one Crème Brulée Iced Brown Sugar Oat Shaken Espresso at Starbucks a month - and you'll be supporting independent quality journalism in Swindon.
The Barrie Hudson Column
Barrie Hudson is a known quantity when it comes to writing words. Sometimes he even spells them correctly. In fact he has been writing words in the Swindon area for more than two decades. First of all for the Swindon Advertiser and then for Swindon Link and now for The Ink. Here are some of his words…
A warning to those labouring under the mistaken belief that ‘robust’ means strong, vigorous - or any use whatsoever
As we all know, the English language is in a constant process of evolution.
That’s why, for example, if you greeted a work colleague one Tuesday morning a few hundred years ago by telling them they looked awful, they might well have been flattered because you’d just told them they looked pretty much magnificent.
Or why at some other period in history if you told somebody they were nice, they would have had every right to feel insulted as you’d just told them they were a bit daft and frivolous.
Or why anybody talking about a Pride event within earshot of the miserable old toad at the end of the bar is at risk of hearing how he misses the days when ‘gay’ meant ‘cheerful’. Which is remarkable because the miserable old toad at the corner of the bar is usually in his forties or fifties and the word in question has had its current meaning for about six decades.
Or why what we now generally think of as the sweariest of all swearwords was for hundreds of years no more offensive than the word ‘kneecap’.
It can be difficult for even the most curious among us to keep abreast of the latest developments in the evolution of language; sometimes a word can change meaning without our realising. The word ‘robust’ is one of these. Millions of us generally think that when something is referred to as robust, that thing is strong, rigorous and generally fit for purpose.
This is especially true when the word is used - as it has been several times in various contexts in recent days alone - by a highly-paid public official or senior figure in a major organisation.
However, it has evolved, which is why we at The Ink thought it best to give examples of its new meaning so readers will not experience confusion when they hear it from now on. In each example, we give a typical use of the word followed by its actual meaning.