Wordwatch|Potato protests

British farmers are raising much ado about the term couch potato. They say it demeans the versatile vegetable.

THE OXFORD English Dictionary has a problem at hand. British farmers are raising much ado about couch potato. They want the phrase removed from the dictionary and replace it with something like couch slouch. Their logic: the phrase is demeaning for the vegetable, which is otherwise versatile, convenient to cook and low in fat and rich in vitamin C. Though they may have a point, editor of OED John Simpson says removing the expression will not be possible.

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The phrase was first included in the OED in 1993 and its first use was recorded in an article in the Los Angeles Times in 1979: “The Humboldt State Marching Lumberjacks... and the Couch Potatoes who will be lying on couches watching television as they are towed toward the parade route.”

It refers to “a person who spends leisure time passively or sitting around idly, especially watching TV or videotapes.”

It was coined by one Tom Iacino as a pun on US slang boob-tuber (television addict), from boob tube (television; potato being a type of tuber), but maybe it simply arose by association with vegetable, which among other things refers to a person leading an inert and monotonous life.

Compare this with mouse potato, used for the first time in 1994 in Guardian: “Freddie is a mouse potato, an Internet addict”; and then in 1996 in Digital Dispatch: “Confirmed mouse potato Raphael Needleman can’t wait for the convergence of TV and the Net.”

It is used for someone who spends an excessive amount of time in front of a computer, especially one who uses it online.