Words: statement, v.

SAINSBURY'S WILL add to its trading difficulties by the Ratner- like suggestion that frequent purchasing of DIY apparatus at its Homebase sheds is a sign of mental deficiency. The pounds 2 voucher for buying such things came with a form which noted the "spend previously statemented this personal year".

The OED only has statement as a noun, but in the early Eighties there began the statementing of children with special educational needs, from which came the verb. A curious fact is that, whatever euphemistic phrase is in vogue for the afflicted, it becomes derogatory: playgrounds now echo with sneers of PLD, from person with a learning difficulty.

Somerfield claims that crisps "compliment your sandwich": how do inanimate objects communicate?