Making up for lost words
From Mr Stephen Little Sir: I am distressed to read that Peter Hitchens believes the word 'gay' has been stolen (`As funny as an abattoir', 26 Febru- ary), when in fact it has merely been lost, found and put to a new use. 'Gay', formerly an adjective denoting a mirthful or light- hearted state of mind, has now become a noun denoting a state of being or, more humbly, a variant form of citizen. As a regu- lar Q-word reader of The Spectator I am delighted to be able to offer him a word in return: 'getter'. This useful little word, weighing in at two syllables, and both a noun and a verb, denotes 'a substance used to remove residual gas from an evacuated ves- sel'. It is one of the many, many thousands of words which have not been stolen by Q- word people but which have fallen into neglect and disuse. I do hope that he, and those non Q-word people of his acquain- tance who own the English language, will be able to find some discreet use for it.
Stephen Little
Royal Academy of Arts, London W1
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