Language Agenda: Beware of The "S"

Introduction
In a TV discussion on Ghana's adversarial political environment, a leading politician says that "our BODY POLITICS is full of insults." While his concern is factually accurate and legitimate, it contains a portion of lexical inaccuracy. And that is the phrasal noun "body politicS." Specifically, the morpheme "S" attached to "politic" is the problem. In fact, the "S" creates a situation which distorts the intended meaning of the whole construction. The right word is "body politic." The following explanation constitutes the justification of claim.

Explanation
"Body politic" is a group of persons living under an organized political authority. Related words are "citizenry", "state", "nation", and "polity." "Body politic" does not mean the body of politics as opposed to the head or soul of politics. 😅😅😅! Let us consider the following illustrative sentences:

● Vulgar utterances are injurious to the BODY POLITIC of Batang Yili Republic.

● Tolerance of divergent opinions in political discourse can boost the health of our BODY POLITIC.

The phrasal noun can be hyphenated as in "body-politic." However, most modern usage authorities do not cherish the hyphen. Readers may verify from Oxford Dictionary to Cambridge Dictionary.

The plural form of "body politic" is "BODIES POLITIC." Let us see the following illustrative sentences:

● The BODIES POLITIC of many parts of Africa are in a state of discomfort.

● Racism continues to be an indelible mark of agony on the BODIES POLITIC of many African nations.

Conclusion
Conclusively, dear reader, it is significant to be careful of the "S" in the use of "body politic." This way, you would certainly escape the porthole of lexical accident and help maintain the semantic normalcy of the phrasal noun.

Allah is the Best Grammarian.
Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq,
Lecturer, University of Applied Management, Germany - Ghana Campus, McCarthy Hill, Accra.

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