Occasionally in a blog post I will comment about a “fifty cent” word I’ve used. I used the word “infelicitious” at our last school board meeting. It was a favorite of our Founding Fathers. I suspect I had our attorney school board member in mind when I tossed it into a somewhat legalistic argument I was making about the leadership of the school board playing dumb. Pity she was not at the meeting. Loren Martell, however, was.
Take it away Loren:
Member Welty had a few words to say, however: “I beg to differ with member Kirby. It is true: any of us could speak to the Montessori school’s representatives any time we want to, just as we could–and some of us did–with the people from the Tischer Creek organization that put a bid in on the Central high school. But this is a deliberative body, and an opportunity for the public to find out. What goes on should take place in a public meeting–not a series of private meetings. And I heartily agree with member Oswald. It should have been painfully clear–but apparently wasn’t–that we simply wanted to add an agenda item.”
Mr. Welty admitted the minority members may have used ‘infelicitous’ language in the wording of their agenda request, which he further described as “not entirely satisfactory language.” Yet, he went on to argue: “There was very little doubt that the three of us wanted to place this item on the agenda, and instead of talking about parliamentary procedure–or what our policy is or is not–we could have had a conversation with Many Rivers, and probably made a decision now (during this meeting.) And I must say that where infelicitous language is concerned, the resolution that member Oswald wants to delete is particularly infelicitous and unsatisfactory…because it is worded in such a way that four members of the school board…could deny three people from having their (agenda) item discussed…”
One very good thing about the majority’s resolution is that I now know how to spell ‘infelicitous.’
You can read Loren’s whole summary “One Night of Peace” here.
You can watch our “short” two and a half hour meeting here.
