Word for Wednesday: Milk

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Over the past few months, milk has been making the headlines in the UK. Price cuts, caused by a number of issues including over-production and supermarket price wars have rendered the outlook very gloomy for dairy farmers.

While it might save you a couple of pence at the supermarket, that small margin is the difference between profit and loss for the people whose livelihoods depend on it.

The price cuts, however beneficial to your wallets, are so extreme that in some cases milk is actually cheaper to buy than mineral water. The struggle between dairy farmers, milk producers and the retailer is a long-standing issue: the BBC website has a good article on the milk-system here.

The word for this week is ‘Milk’ from the old English variants ‘meoluc’ and ‘'milc’; related to Dutch ‘melk’ and German ‘milch’.

It’s important that we’re aware of the struggle that the farmers face and to know the consequences of bargain hunting and the supermarket price battle!

Hugh MacDermott


14 Jan 2015
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