278: NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW YOU DON’T
When Canada’s Prime Minister Joe Clark was ousted after only six months, humourist Allan Fotheringham memorably dubbed him a ‘Hiccup of History’. How should we describe Truss, been and gone in a mere 45 days? A ‘Hiccuplette’? Perhaps not. The feminine form (as with, say, ‘actress’) has long been infra dig. I tentatively suggest a case of ‘Liz-Majesté.
The Romans had their fair share of political instabilities. Take this poem of Catullus from the 40s BC when the Republic was approaching its death throes: What’s up, Catullus? Why do you put off dying? That excrescence Nonius is squatting
