George Monbiot coins the word “perceptionware” for technology trailed but never trialled, and only intended to impress the credulous (The expansion of Heathrow would be an expensive disaster for Britain and the world. Burnham needs to block it, 3 October). But the IT industry has long had a word for this: “vapourware” – which seems apt when discussing aircraft emissions.
Robin Hughes
Worrall, South Yorkshire
In the 1960s, my friend Linda shared a room in Paddington, London, with her friend Cynthia. Two beds in the living room, a kitchen and a shared bathroom. Normal in those days. If I went there for supper, Cynthia would get undressed and into bed at 9pm on the dot. It was difficult not to get the hint, with her head on the pillow and her eyes screwed shut. I went home (Letters, 4 October).
Mary Finch
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
I smell the whiff of editorial mischief in Monday’s Guardian print edition, with the juxtaposition of the headlines “I don’t want my Celebrity Traitors flatulence to define me, says Imrie” on page 3, followed by “‘The smell suffocates’: The huge methane leaks…” on page 4.
Roland Webster
Brighton, East Sussex
Like Elle Hunt, as an adult woman I hate being called a girl (The hill I will die on: not everything is a ‘girl’ thing – stop gendering and infantilising it all, 3 October). Even worse, though, is being called a “lady”, as in “not in front of the ladies”. As if to be a woman is to be a delicate innocent in need of protection.
Julie Baker
Gloucester
A further example of the bleeding obvious (Letters, 4 October), at least to physicists, is a sign in an Ilkley store explaining that “Helium balloons are now upstairs”.
Paul Kennedy
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
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