Sir, - On RTE's Questions and Answers on Monday night, Jim Mitchell, TD attacked Fianna Fail for not co-operating fully with the various tribunals. Pat Carey, Fianna Fail TD, defended his party by saying it would co-operate with the tribunals "fully and fulsomely". Maybe Mr Carey was being more accurate than he realised.
The Webster's New Dictionary explanation for the word "fulsome" is "(1) offensively excessive or insincere; (2) loathsome, disgusting". The word sounds dangerously like "wholesome" but refers to something which is anything but wholesome.
According to Virtue's English Dictionary the word partly comes from the word "foul". Maybe if the word was pronounced "foulsome" its true meaning might be more readily understood. - Yours, etc.,
Michael McGuire, Burnfoot, Co Donegal.