Just found this mildly amusing piece while browsing the Google News front page: (It made it above "Amnesty in attack on UK asylum policy" and "Villages swamped by raging storm" in the U.K. section.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4108964.stm

Though I get the point on never offending anyone with language usage, potatoes are an amazing food. Think of all the people who live on them, plus cabbage because of what they have in them.
Why just the Vitamin c alone is amazing!

http://www.britishpotatoes.co.uk/press.asp?id=5

It's hard to say whether "couch potato" will catch on and become part of the language or not. But experience suggests that the Potato Council won't have much influence one way or the other.

When I was a kid, Prince Philip described something or other (I can't remember what) as "tripe" in one of his speeches. This deeply offended the National Association of Tripe Dressers (I assure you that this body actually exists), and one of its representatives was moved to declared that "Tripe is not a joke: it is a valuable foodstuff." But despite their protests "tripe" is still a synonym for "rubbish" in colloquial English, as it has been for more than 300 years.

Of course - have you ever actually tasted it?

It's offaly good.

Is this 'couch potato' expression just now making an appearance over there? TT's comment about catching on makes me ask that, as the phrase has been around the states for years now, and I don't think I've ever heard a peep out of Idaho in protest. Good move on the Brit farmer's part, though, to generate a little more business.

And I was practically sustained by Menudo at one point in my life, and I can affirm that no part of it is offal. When you've had a bowlful, you're a much healthier person, and your hangover has disappeared.

For the uninitiated: http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/recipe.htm

It has been around for years.