Words: clutter, n. and v.

A FINE book was hidden by old newspapers. A rival to Proust in its piquant observation and the ultimate in how-to volumes, Don Aslett's Freedom From Clutter, turns variations on the remark, "Don't love what can't love you back."

A purge is, however, delayed by wondering about clutter - and filling the brain with more etymology: akin to clot and cleat, with Old English instances, it proves to be something that fills a surprising amount of space in the OED, which notes that it surfaced in the late 16th century but disappeared for close on 200 years. It also had senses of clatter and bustle, and was deemed "a low word" by Johnson.

Right, back to Aslett: "There is a time to stop war-dancing and circling around our junk and to attack it!"