Patents Bill
10:30 am
Mr James Arbuthnot (Shadow Secretary of State for Trade, International Affairs; North East Hampshire, Conservative)
May I also say how honoured we all are to be under your chairmanship, Mr. Amess?
A matter of huge importance was raised on Second Reading, namely whether we were talking about ''pat-tents'' or ''pay-tents''. The hon. Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) led us down the garden path, I regret to say; he suggested that a short 'a' would allow his constituents to get home more quickly for tea. That may be true. The Minister then told us that the pronunciation depended on which area of the country one came from, but I am afraid that that, too, is incorrect. I have now been informed that it is pronounced ''pat-tents'', because it comes from the Latin patens, meaning open. When one discloses a secret, one is making it open, and one is therefore granted letters on the opening of it. That sounds hugely convincing.