3 APRIL 1976, Page 17

Bad language

Sir: With regard to Mr Marc Attwood- Wood's complaint about the misuse of the word 'careening' there is at least one excel- lent modern literary precedent which sug- gests unsteady progress or a violent swaying motion. it comes from a poem called 'A Day Out from the Institution' by D. M. Thomas, which begins: Silent, explosive in his suit of green, A gap-mouthed primate, almost one of us, He summons simple energy to careen And swing into the branches of the bus ... Gerda Mayer 12 Margaret Avenue, Chingford, London E4