Credit where it is due

‘Why “a plethora of plastic”?’ I hear nobody asking. But I’m used to talking to nobody in particular, so I’ll answer anyway.

Praise (or blame, as the case may be) my daughter. Shortly before her English Language GCSE earlier this year she looked up all sorts of interesting words that she might use during the exam. One of these was ‘plethora’. During the exam she decided to write a speech criticizing consumerist culture (go Esther!), and in an inspired moment came up with the phrase ‘plethora of plastic’. I was suitably impressed and so, I think, was she: when she told me she gave the sort of delighted fist pump usually performed by female tennis players after winning a particularly important point.

It might be thought, therefore, that I have stolen the phrase from my own daughter. But I prefer to think of it as a kind of tribute to her. If she ever gets her band in gear and releases an album entitled ‘A Plethora of Plastic’, then she can point to this post to demonstrate that, far from paying her own tribute to an obscure and somewhat ranty blog, the album title does in fact stem from her own inventive genius.

So, thanks Esther, I hope you don't mind me appropriating your phrase. But it will always be yours!