What a waste

So it's true, is it, that 50 odd per cent of people - of us - don't/can't/won't understand the words best before, sell by and use by? I can just about understand that some of us have trouble with the first - it does, after all, involve a superlative and an adverb and crucially has three syllables in all - but sell by and use by? The adverb preceded by a single-syllable imperative? It could not be simpler or it would be - in fact already is - reduced to the absurd. Do we who don't understand never log off, sit down, drink up, throw.....but something strikes me. These figures were generated by WRAP (no I'm not making this up), the The Waste and Resources Action Programme, who estimate that the average family wastes £680 a year as a result of the confusion. WRAP are to receive £174.8m from DEFRA over the next five years (that's after a 38% cut in budget) which is slightly more than a tenner for every family in the country.

Some very clever people work for the government, so I'm told, the sort who could get to the bottom of tricky phrases like use by and sell by in a flash. It's said they don't have too much trouble either with polysyllabic phrases like best before - after all, they've already plastered the country's streets with the legend "no entry". But I suppose they have to justify their position somehow.

An unworthy thought enters my mind. Jobs for the boys? No, too long, too many syl......ah, that's it: Free money. Single syllable adjective, two syllable noun. Can't be that hard.

Our thanks to Nick Butters for his contribution:

Bio:

"I am a food lover which is a polite way of saying, a food obsessive. I recently returned to my beloved north-east after 25 years working away in London, at sea and in France. I've been cooking for the last 35 years or so and it has been my entertainment, my passion and my solace. Everywhere I go I hear the message that British food has never been more varied, more exciting or more delicious. So, if you are in food and think I can help you get your message across please take a look at the services page of my blog, http://www.creamandbacon.com/, or write to me directly at nicholas.butters@yahoo.com "