Two days ago (on the 11th) we had the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government.
Once again, the lefties trotted out their familiar old howls of complaint about how unfair it all was.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I have always thought that those who drew up our constitution gave the Governor General those reserve powers for a reason (just in case, in remarkable circumstances) they might be needed.
And were they needed?
Well, none of the lefties ever admit what a disaster the Whitlam government was—inflation hit 18%!
We worry these days if inflation is in the 3% to 4% range.
Can you imagine what it was it like with inflation at 18%?
Of course, the Australian people exercised their democratic power to dismiss Whitlam at the election that followed (by a landslide).
They dismissed him again in another election in 1977.
Which brings me to this word ‘dismissal.’
It is clearly based on the earlier word ‘dismiss.’
This is recorded in English from 1582.
It came into English from a Latin source word dīmittĕre meaning ‘to send away.’
There was an earlier verb ‘to dimit’ meaning the same thing and coming from the same Latin source word.
Why ‘dimit’ changed into ‘dismiss’ is unclear (to me at least!)
And from that verb ‘to dismiss’ this noun ‘dismissal’ was constructed.
However, it was not the first noun constructed from that verb.
Starting from 1646 ‘dismiss’ was turned into the noun ‘dismission.’
When I discovered this, I was (to say the least) somewhat surprised—I had never even heard of the word ‘dismission.’
But from the mid-1600s until 1818 if someone was dismissed, we didn’t talk about their ‘dismissal’ but about their ‘dismission.’
Then (in, as I say, 1818) ‘dismission’ was quietly dropped and replaced by the now familiar word ‘dismissal.’
But what if it hadn’t been?
We would these days be talking about the 50th anniversary of The Dismission!
And Paul Kelly’s famous book would be called The Dismission not The Dismissal.
I have to admit that ‘dismission’ is not as euphonious a word as ‘dismissal’—and if this whole thing had such a clumsy word to name it, perhaps it would not be remembered quite as well as it is?
Just a thought.
Tonight I will join John Stanley on 2GB, 4BC, 2CC and the Nine Radio Network for 'The Word Clinic -- right after the 10pm news (9pm in Queensland).
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