Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

John Archer

Member Since

March 1, 2014

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

1

Bio

Latest Comments

Substantial vs. substantive

  • March 1, 2014, 11:35pm

In general when politicians speak they exude a substantial amount of verbal froth. This is so because—again in general—they do not wish to commit themselves on substantive issues in case their position ultimately proves unpopular and jeopardises their seat on the gravy train.

To put it briefly, the substantive point here is that politicians are a worse than a waste of space—they are substantially parasitic on the body politic.

Yet people continue to vote for these creatures of no substance rather than hang them. Life is full of mysteries.