One thing I always admire in a person is playfulness with the English language. It’s no surprise, coming from a recovering English major who works in the publishing business, I suppose, but I just love a person who has word obsessions.

Though we use Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary here, I’m delighted to see The Times of London calling on readers, authors, and writers to help save at least some of the words on a list to be excised from Collins English Dictionary, due to space constraints. Such proposed cuts are oppugnant to word lovers everywhere.

Perhaps it’s time I swapped some of my favorites for a word or two from this list. Why overuse “heinous” when I could substitute “olid”? “Niddering” and “nitid” are so appealing, too. As for “fubsy,” I think it would make an excellent name for a cat. Fortunately my formerly fubsy cat, Fuzzy, has changed his ways.

It’s time for some international cooperation. Let’s prove we’re not agrestic yokels and do our part to remove the caducity of these words. Oh, look!  Spell check already vilipends them!