Every time a word disappears, we lose a little of our spirit and wit | Rachel Cooke

A new book gathers words that face extinction. Surely they're worth saving

News stories about language and the way we use it are rarely edifying, and usually intensely vexatious: the custodians of grammar merrily set about their showing off; the more liberal-minded do their best to convince us that the likes of "cakeism" and "gammon" - two of the words of 2018, according to the Oxford Dictionaries - are signs of vibrancy and growth.

The fogeyish wistfulness and the determined digging-in involved in these spats are by now so reliably tedious, there'd be more pleasure and interest in listening to John Humphrys interview himself.