May I respond briefly to your editor's note [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] attached to my letter on offensive language on TV (SN 17 October).

For the purpose of a TV newscast the offence in question may be adequately "described" through the use of a roughly equivalent expression. In this regard a dictionary can be helpful.

Those I have consulted suggest several synonymous terms for "buggery" such as unnatural intercourse, abnormal sexual intercourse and sodomy.

Instead of blaring out on TV "A man was dragged before the courts by the police on a charge of buggery", a reporter might say "A man who committed unnatural sex was charged by the police and brought before the courts".

Believe me, most thinking mature Guyanese would understand what the man did and why the police moved against him. You need not lose any sleep over this. Furthermore, few of them would be terribly interested in hearing what the offence is called in law.

It goes without saying that items of this sort are best read out at a discreet hour.