HOSTS OF PUBLIC affairs programmes are often called pundits.
The term can be traced to the Sanskrit pandita, meaning scholar. It then evolved into the Hindi honorific pandit, which connotes great learning.
The expression was introduced into the American vernacular by the wives of a coterie of Rochester professionals in New York in 1854, after their husbands had formed a group 'devoted to the serious and conscientious investigation of the truth'.
The men named it plainly The Club. The ladies were more creative and referred to it as The Pundit Club in a facetious reference to the Indian title.
Some of our present day pundits, however, do not quite live up to that fine tradition of 'serious and conscientious' inquisition. Last Friday's episode of the most popular talk-back show in town, Storm in a Teacup, presented by Albert Cheng King-hon on Commercial Radio, is one such example.
Assistant Commissioner for Labour Fung Ying-lun was invited to respond to a complaint over the phone during the show. The entire conversation, however, lasted for only about 6.5 minutes. Hardly able to get a word in, Mr Fung ended up speaking for under two minutes.