Letter of the week

From today's Guardian letters page:

I am saddened by the unhelpful attitude of John Simpson, editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, for declining to take on board the concerns of the British Potato Council, campaigning for the removal of the term 'couch potato' from the dictionary - which is deterring people from making more use of this nutritious vegetable ('Couch potato label gives veg a bad name', June 20).
As one who has spent much of his life in the fruit and vegetable business, I can vouch for the fact that there are a great many terms in the English language that give needless pain to the sensitive greengrocer. We deplore derogatory descriptions such as 'cabbage head', 'prune face', 'cauliflower ears'. These have a negative impact on our business by making all such produce unattractive. Who is going to buy raspberries if people insist on blowing them?
Even seemingly innocuous terms like 'fruity' and 'nutty' give grave offence to vegans such as myself. People should show more sensitivity and refrain from all such loose talk.

Jeremy Hart,
Buckfastleigh, Devon

I'm still trying to work out if this guy is being entirely serious. The worrying thing is, I get the feeling he is. Although of course, I could just be missing something. Answers on a postcard... (Incidentally, I have to say I have never heard anyone use 'prune face' as an insult. Suddenly, it seems like there's been a huge hole in my life all these years.)