One of the better books I’ve read lately is the 2008 biography of Peter Roget, creator of the famous Thesaurus which carries his name.
For a century and a half the English speaking world has referenced Roget’s copious word lists as a way to improve communication. It’s still a must-have for every wordsmith.
But even Roget. an eccentric polymath, couldn’t cover everything. One of the words not there, but with particular relevance in South Africa today, is “dyscalculia”.
I discovered it yesterday when searching online to describe someone unable to understand numbers, one who finds arithmetic incomprehensible.
Because we have quite a few countrymen with the affliction occupying very senior positions. Perhaps that’s why the nation is drifting towards a financial crunch?
We’ll get an update on the progress in that direction when ratings agencies S&P and Fitch deliver their latest verdicts. Pity they don’t make allowances for dyscalculian leadership.
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