I gritted my teeth when I saw the headlines in Monday’s edition (February 27, 2017). I gave my fellow Marist Old Boy Professor Sitiveni Ratuva the benefit of the doubt that he did not use that word. I preferred to think that whoever was The Fiji Times sub-editor at the time had made a faux pas.
The use of “Unpractical” is not, by itself, wrong, but it does deviate from the common use of words starting with “m” or “p”, such as “immortal”, “impure”, “impotent” or “immature”.
So my apologies to The Fiji Times. The use of the word “unpractical” is not grammatically incorrect.
Nevertheless, it just sounds unsuitable or, for want of a better synonym, impractical.
