What have the BBC Wordhunt Appeal, mushy peas and a popular Tenby fish and chip shop got in common? Well you might well ask!
A camera crew visited D. Fecci and Sons in Lower Frog Street on Tuesday morning to gain evidence for a forthcoming BBC Two series which is inviting people to hunt for words and help revise the Oxford English Dictionary. The programme is appealing to the nation to help solve some of the most intriguing recent word mysteries in the language.
The OED is seeking to find the earliest verifiable usage of every single word in the English language and has come up with an appeal list of 50 words, all of which have a date corresponding to the earliest evidence the dictionary currently has. They ask if anyone can trump that.
Well, as far as mushy peas - dated on the list as 1975 - are concerned, Stuart Fecci says yes! He has put forward a convincing theory that the side order has been in existence for a lot longer than that, as their chippy has been serving mushy peas since 1935.
Unfortunately, though, all their archives were lost in a fire and Fecci's had no proof of their claim, so the programme-makers decided to visit the establishment to film for themselves that the family, 'hand on hearts', had been using mushy peas for over 70 years.
They will then submit the evidence and, who knows, Fecci's could possibly help revise the dictionary.