The revered Oxford University Press has decided to cut words from the English dictionary. Not the real old-fashioned words like, blaggard, foresooth, blithering or manners. The words to be scythed from memory are, amongst many others, buttercup, conker, dandelion and new words pushing their way in are Blackberry (note the capital B), MP3 player and chatroom.
I would give in if these smacked-down words no longer existed but last time I looked, my overgrown garden was knee-high in buttercups and dandelions and I went across the road to collect fallen conkers for my friend who hates spiders (who are not amused by conkers apparently and keep away).
Of course we should have new words, but why can't the old ones be left to snuggle against the new kids on the block? Why must they be treated as the literary equivalent of Ebola and the world to be protected against their use?
Please let little Marcus find a shiny brown object on the ground, allow him to know it's a conker (such a lovely word anyway) and how it is spelled when he writes about his weekend walk at school.
Frankly, it's language homicide and a right bloody mess.
