But we still need them, says Sue de Groot in The Pedant Class.

There are, as has been pointed out occasionally on this page, words that are abused, misused and overused. There are also words that are entirely unnecessary.When I say "unnecessary", I don't mean in a morally judgemental sense, as in "was it really necessary to call him a turnip?" I mean useless, pointless, needless, excessive, unwarranted, redundant, wasteful, gratuitous, superfluous, wanton, expendable, surplus to requirem...