continuity of parks

Part A: And "economical."

"Economical" means "thrifty" or, in the current jargon, "cost-effective." "Economic" should be used for every other meaning possible for the words, almost always in reference to the study of economics. Hence we have "economic studies" and "economic interest," but "economical shopping."

Part B: And "financial."

"Economic" is increasingly often misused for "financial." When the reference is to pecuniary affairs of a household or business, the word should be "financial," not "economic" (which refers to larger-scale finances) -- e.g.: "The firm financed a string of big-budget movies that perpetually left it on the brink of economic [read 'financial'] ruin but managed to come up with a big hit often enough to stay afloat." Steve Pond, "Beating the Financial Terminator?" Wash. Post, 17 Oct. 1995, at C7. There is an irony in the usage, though, since "economic" comes from a Greek word meaning "management of the household."

But the phrase "economic ruin" is acceptable when the reference is to a geographic area (such as a town) or a country -- e.g.: "The American exit threatened his town with economic ruin, and his family, a long-standing local dynasty, with the loss of its power base." "How to Convert a Military Power Base -- Filipino Style," Sacramento Bee, 15 Oct. 1995, at F3.

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Quotation of the Day: "English is emphatically the language of commerce, of civilisation, of social and religious freedom, of progressive intelligence, and of an active catholic philanthropy; and beyond any tongue ever used by man, it is of right the cosmopolite speech." George P. Marsh, Lectures on the English Language 23 (1860).