3 MAY 1963, Page 15

D ERIVATIONS .SIR,—Alan Brien seeks to demonstrate the superiority of day-schools

to boarding-schools by chiding Mr. Worsthorne for his use of the word 'jejune.' He could have found a happier example. Murals (French jeun) thin.' 'fasting' and, by extension, 'empty, feeble, mm.' If some Latin writer once used it to mean dull, dry, uninteresting,' it was a bizarre misuse. The English word 'jejune' retains the Latin secondary 'meaning of `feeble.' I think Mr. Worsthorne, despite his education, used it correctly.