I am always delighted to find words that have fallen by the wayside and last week was no exception. I was reading a review by Margaret Drabble of two books about Robert Aickman in the Times Literary Supplement. I confess that I’d never heard of him (Ms Drabble says he was “a contrarian and quarrelsome and many disliked him”; I must investigate further), but what took my attention was that his vocabulary was littered with archaisms. She quotes two – boscage and cresset – that had me reaching for the dictionary. The former means a mass of trees or shrubs; the latter is a metal container of oil, grease, wood or coal set alight for illumination and typically mounted on a pole. I can see why they have fallen into disuse – there can’t be many occasions when you can toss them into everyday conversation (“I do so admire your boscage” doesn’t trip off the tongue) but I thank Ms Drabble for bringing them to my attention.

I am grateful to an ever-attentive colleague for the following: “Just spotted in M1 service station on way to Newcastle: ‘spill response kit’. It’s a mop.”

The following, meanwhile, is from a source I sadly cannot name: “I thought you might enjoy this verbatim example of corporate nonsense from the senior leadership team in HMRC’s Wealthy and Midsize Business directorate. It’s appended to the end of every senior manager’s email sign-off and wonderfully manages to combine banality with grammatical incoherence:

• ‘Our Values: Professional, Integrity, Respect, Innovative

• Our Commitments:

- be fair, kind and human

- not create fear in others

- include people, regardless of difference

- work together, recognising our common goal

- have honest conversations with respect’.”

I would love to give credit where credit is due, but I must accede to my correspondent’s request for anonymity. Such a shame for such a perfect example of management bilge.

Email jonathan.bouquet@observer.co.uk

• Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist