Potato farmers held a noisy protest outside Parliament today to get the term "couch potato" removed from the Oxford English dictionary, claiming it harms the vegetable's image.

A similar rally took place outside the offices of the dictionary's publishers in Oxford, with demonstrators carrying signs that read "couch potato out" and "ban the term couch potato".

The British Potato Council wants the expression stripped from the Oxford English Dictionary and replaced in everyday speech with the term "couch slouch". It says the phrase makes the vegetable seem unhealthy and is bad for its image.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "couch potato" started life as American slang. It means: "A person who spends leisure time passively or idly sitting around, especially watching television or video tapes."

Kathryn Race, head of marketing at the British Potato Council which represents some 4,000 growers and processors, said the group had written to the Oxford English Dictionary stating its objections but had not yet had a response.

"We are trying to get rid of the image that potatoes are bad for you," she said.

"The potato has had its knocks in the past. Of course it is not the Oxford English Dictionary’s fault, but we want to use another term than couch potato because potatoes are inherently healthy."

The council says its campaign has the backing of dieticians who say the vegetable is low in fat and high in vitamin C.

The celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson was among the protestors this morning. He said that the vegetable was one of the UK’s favourite foods.

"Not only are they healthy, they are versatile, convenient and taste great too. Life without potato is like a sandwich without a filling," he said.

John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said that the first known recorded use of the expression couch potato was in a 1979 Los Angeles Times article. The expression was first included in the OED in 1993.

He said: "When people blame words they are actually blaming the society that uses them. Dictionaries just reflect the words that society uses."

Mr Simpson said words were never taken out of the full-length dictionary, which includes some 650,000 words contained in 20 volumes. But little-used words are removed from the smaller dictionaries to make way for newer ones.

"If society stops using words then they get taken out of the smaller dictionaries," he added.

"But the OED is a record of the English language from the earliest days. If something’s in there, it remains as part of the patchwork of the English language."

Mr Simpson said he thinks the campaign is "a bit of consciousness raising; on the part of the British Potato Council. "I think the potato has taken a bit of a mashing after the Atkins diet," he said, referring to the low-carbohydrate food regime.

Nigel Evans MP for the Ribble Valley in Lancashire has tabled a Commons early day motion in support of the campaign, highlighting the nutritional value of the great British potato.

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