British farmers have launched a campaign to remove the term "couch potato" from the dictionary because they fear its negative connotations are putting people off buying the vegetable. - guardian.co.uk
I think the first issue to clear up is probably that the potato is neither a fruit nor a vegetable; it's a tuber... (well, broadly it's a vegetable, but I'd like to see a Couch Root campaign) (after 10pm). Second of all, they never remove words from the full-length Oxford dictionary, although little-used words are removed from shorter versions of the dictionary over time. How else would anyone be able to translate Shakespeare?
Oh, and you should read this. Documents that were censored by the Americans, written by an American reporter who sneaked into Nagasaki after the second bomb was dropped. Censored for almost 60 years (come Septerber 22) and interesting to read.
This morning I woke up at 00:32 and have not been able to get back to sleep.
Stupid brain. You go sleep now!
Stupid girl. Be nice to me or I'll give you a migraine!
Sorry, brain. Fine, I'll read the papers for 6 hours.
They'd better not be tabloids... Oh, and would it kill you to provide some Omega 3?
I have a strange craving for pop-tarts. I haven't eaten them in... um... about 8 years. But I just read an article on Social Security and the inventor of pop-tarts was one of the people interviewed for it. He's in his 80's and still eats them, so they can't be all bad. Mmmm. Warm and constructed largely of sugar.
I got a slap in the assumptions yesterday. I was following a very nice, lowered, black-out windows etc CRX and the guy was driving at about 40k in a 60 zone! I was pretty sure it was deliberate because as soon as I changed lanes, he pulled straight over in front of me, slowed way down and I almost smacked into the back of him.
I stood hard on the brakes and raised my hand - not the fingers, more like doing the fingers with your whole hand. A hand came out of the window, waved courteously, and as I accelarated past, I glared at... a terrified, white-haired old man squinting anxiously ahead of him. I don't know where he got those wheels.
Merry Christmas, Grampa! I got you the King Springs Lowering Kit and some blue lights to put around the number plate we got you last year!
What an awesome story to read first thing in the morning. I love the thought that his grandchild gave him all that stuff for christmas. My grandad bought his car off an Otago student. OK it's a 1980-something honda civic so it isn't quite to the boy racer look but it is completely covered in surfer bumberstickers.
Posted by: chelle at June 21, 2005 08:04 AMIsn't vegetable a generic term for "of plant origin," particularly when applied to edible parts of plants so all fruits would be vegetables, but not of course vice versa...
Also potatoes are a modified stolon (or stem) not a root at all... same for yams and some other stuff!
Stem vegetables doesn't have quite the same ring to it(-:
Posted by: Karen the nerdy twoshoes at June 21, 2005 09:48 AMI'd be more worried that people would stop eating couches....but that's just me.
Posted by: Jenni the ridiculous jokester at June 21, 2005 11:22 AMYeah, I was stretching it a little to get to a suggestive title ;)
I've noticed that my couch consumption *has* dropped recently. Who knows what could happen?!
sofa, so good.
Posted by: phreq at June 22, 2005 10:37 AMI want poptarts!!!!
Posted by: sok at June 22, 2005 07:18 PMThey don't have them any more. Sigh. Mmmm crumbly warm with icing on the outside and artificial goo on the inside...
Posted by: phreq at June 23, 2005 06:58 AM