Let's jacket in folks ...

Jun 21 2005 By Helen Logan Evening Gazette

Listening to the radio on the way to work this week I thought for a second it must be April 1.

For there was a heated debate going on about whether the words couch potato should be ditched from the dictionary as it is bad for the vegetable's image.

Groups of demonstrators staged simultaneous protests outside the Oxford University Press offices and in London's Parliament Square.

No wonder I thought it was April Fool's Day or that the whole world had suddenly gone mad.

The argument is that the phrase makes the vegetable seem unhealthy.

The British Potato Council wants the expression replaced in everyday speech with the term "couch slouch".

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term started life as American slang.

Kathryn Race, of the British Potato Council which represents some 4,000 growers and processors, said the group had written to the Oxford English Dictionary stating its objections.

"We are trying to get rid of the image that potatoes are bad for you," she said.

The council says its campaign has the backing of dieticians who say the vegetable is low in fat and high in vitamin C.

John Simpson, of the Oxford English Dictionary, argues: "When people blame words they are actually blaming the society that uses them. Dictionaries just reflect the words that society uses."

But what seemed on the surface a daft idea by the Potato Council was in fact a brilliant marketing strategy.

For they got acres of coverage both on TV and radio and in the press - even if it was people ridiculing their stance.