I was distressed to realise this week that even my favourite celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver – he of the power verbs: “fling”, “bang”, “stick” and “sling” (often within the same sentence, when they combine in pure poetry) – is resorting to “pop”.
I counted at least three inappropriate uses of the hateful non-verb in the final episode of “Jamie’s Great Britain”, since at no time was Jay Oh referring to minor explosions, fizzy drinks or the behaviour of weasels.
I wonder if there is a conspiracy afoot to bring in this safe, inoffensive (to most) and reasonably versatile word to assist in the dumbing down of our language. If so, I mean to fight it. Such a development is not evolution of language, but deterioration.
Who will join me on the linguistic barricades?
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