And for seconds...

I couldn't resist this little item: an article that had me spluttering my tea all over the computer screen in a huge guffaw, and wondering if it was April Fools Day already. Y'see, potato farmers have been on the rampage, protesting outside Parliament - er, and outside the offices of the Oxford English Dictionary! I know, I know, this is already getting surreal... And why are the spud-munchers so unhappy with the twin bastions of civilisation? Well, they vehemently object to the word "couch-potato" because it conveys negative connotations of the healthy and nutritious root vegetable. Laughed at the ridiculousness of the campaign? I nearly died!!

The best bit of all is the response given to the media by John Simpson, chief editor of the OED: "I think the potato has taken a bit of a mashing after the Atkins diet". Someone give that man the OBE now! That is priceless verbal wit!

Read it and rise up with me, sofa-lovers, to object to the equally negative connotations being accrued to the word "couch"!

Farmers demand a ban on the word 'couch-potato'

And join in the debate about alternative terms here:

What should we call couch potatoes now?