A caterwall of protest has been heard from the Word Warriors of Wayne State University in Detroit.

These logophiles have released their annual top 10 of those words which they claim are criminally under used.

They are a melange of the old and obscure and I shall attempt with considered concinnity to give them an airing for the edification of philistines who may be obambulating through subtopia and beyond, and hope this will not be considered knavery or the act of a rapscallion or dismissed as simple flapdoodle but accepted as an exercise by an honest opsimath.

Phew. I’m glad that’s over.

Dean Jerry Herron says: “The English language has more words in its lexicon than any other.

By making use of the repertoire available to us, we expand our ability to communicate clearly and help make our world a more interesting place.

Bringing these words back into everyday conversation is just another way of broadening our horizons.”

The Warriors’ editorial board notes that new words introduced into the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary include hashtag, selfie and tweep.

This, they say, is proof of how culture expands communication.

But, they add, let’s not forget some of the old and expressive words that may be dying from neglect.

Their top 10 of words that deserve to be used more often is: caterwaul (howling or wailing noise), concinnity (harmonious arrangement or fitting together), flapdoodle (nonsense), knavery (roguish act), melange (mixture), obambulate (to walk about), opsimath (a person who studies late in life), philistine (hostile to culture and the arts), rapscallion (rascal) and subtopia (unsightly suburband development).

Well, that’s my bit done.