Words at W ork

Cypriots will not readily agree about anything on that divided island,
least o f all about the current anniversary.
few and far between
One danger to be avoided is that of falling back on a familiar expression
w hen in fact it merely wastes words.
The number of vacancies there are is rather few and far between.
That is a com ment on the em ployment situation made on the radio. Few
and far betw een is a telling expression w here it is appropriately used,
say o f habitations in a largely unpopulated area. But here it slips from the
speakers tongue to fill time. In fact There are few vacancies w ould say
all that the speaker said, reducing the num ber o f words from twelve to
four, indeed saving tw o-thirds of them.
in terms of
This expression means as represented by and is properly used in such
statements as In terms o f public influence he counted for nothing. It is
now being used indiscriminately.
They have no use for civil servants in terms of getting things done.
Here in terms o f simply means for.
In terms of the current controversy I have nothing to add.
Here in terms o f simply means about.