Letter: Useful words from Africa

Monday 28 July 1997 23:02 BST

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Useful words from Africa

Sir: It's not just India that is still a rich source of new English words (Letters, 26 and 28 July). So is Africa.

How do you describe your state airline now it has been nationalised? Or your ports authority, which is not? The word "parastatal" supplies the need. It is used in Kenya to describe the utilities and the old nationalised industries; indeed any organisation which, like the state, impinges on our lives, whether or not it is owned by the government. A most useful word.

SIMON TATTON-BROWN

Bolton

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