According to Wikipedia, ‘inappropriate’ means ‘not fitting’. Not only because it is mismatched or unsuitable, but also because it is demeaning, offensive, and implies disrespect, rudeness, and indifference (in phrases, behaviour, dress that is of a lower level than expected, for behaviours that are beneath the dignity of the occasion and offensive to others).
An example given is: “It is inappropriate to talk on your mobile phone during a funeral”.
Odysseas Michaelides was obviously not talking on his mobile phone during a funeral. Something else bothered the Assistant Attorney General, Savvas Angelides, who, in an interview with ‘Kathimerini’, stated that “a healthy-thinking person demands that the only procedure be followed to investigate the behaviour of the Comptroller General towards independent officials and other persons in the public sphere”.
But who decides who the healthy-thinking people are? If a poll is taken asking, “Is the behaviour of the Comptroller General inappropriate?”, apart from those who have been subjected to his scrutiny and criticism from time to time, the majority of the rest will probably not agree with the notion of inappropriate behaviour. Are all these people unhealthy thinkers? Do they think in a morbid way?
Another explanation of the word ‘inappropriate’ is given by Giannis Babiniotis in his voluminous dictionary: “It is someone who does not conform to established social norms”. Indeed, the established norms of Cypriot society have become accustomed to Comptrollers General who, every year, would hand over to the President a volume filled with observations and even scandals.
These were usually ignored. On the first day, journalists would leaf through the report, selecting the most salable and sensationalist chapters to make headlines, and then the volume would be recycled (figuratively speaking, as there was no recycling back then).
It was an annual ritual always captured by a photographic snapshot in front of the fireplace at the Presidential Palace. The symbolism was never explained by the director, but perhaps it meant that the report would be burned in the fireplace.
And then came Odysseas Michaelides. He did not wait for the annual ritual. As he identified and substantiated issues, he made them public. Not that things changed much in practice.
Again, more or less, his findings are being ignored.
Perhaps there is a little more noise, perhaps the noise lasts a little longer, but in the end, the result is not much different. He has become popular, citizens feel that there is someone they can turn to, but that’s about it. His dress sense may not be the most tasteful, but it cannot be called inappropriate.
The phrases he uses cannot be described as inappropriate either, and he has not been heard speaking on his mobile phone during a funeral. So, it must be something else he is doing that does not conform to the “established social norms”.
