The curious thing about Aldi’s podded peas is that they come in their pods. The packet (above) was one I bought recently. Good job it was clear plastic; otherwise these would have been — well, surprise peas (if anyone remembers those).

Evidently someone at the supermarket thinks that ‘podded’ means replete with pods as, say, ‘studded’ would mean with studs, if applied to football boots. This seems quite logical, but it’s just not English. Perhaps the mistake arises from Aldi’s being German-owned. (I was fascinated to learn of the frugal lifestyle of its billionaire founder Karl Albrecht in the obituaries following his death last month, aged 94.) Mind you, it isn’t only supermarkets that get in a maul over English. The headline above was written by a sub-editor on the Daily Telegraph.

Most of my readers — being a supremely well-educated bunch — will recognise at once where the error lies. They probably fulminate, as I do, over the increasing number of people who think that ‘till’, which they no doubt often hear, is a short form of the longer ‘until’ and therefore write it as if it were.

Of course, ‘till’ is spelt as above. It is the older word, in fact, and generally favoured by the best writers.